T.E. W. (terez93) reviewed on 5/17/2023 + 273 more book reviews

Interesting reading and a very comprehensive treatment of the evidence and historical events, which is surprisingly difficult to find given the general interest in the topic, but be prepared for lots of rhetoric about how hysterical women were largely responsible. A recent theory, which I am more inclined to believe, states that ergot poisoning may have caused some of the more extreme symptoms, which then led to a witch hunt. This seems much more credible to me than this author's psychoanalysis of some of the persons involved, but it's a good general overview. On the plus side, the book discusses in depth some of the town politics that made it an environment ripe for such a tragedy, even if the viewpoint is rather one sided.

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