This is very beautifully written! There is nothing quite like putting names and realistic stories to the tragedy. Thanks for sharing even though it was hard to write!
I too have a fascination for this moment in time – when an entire community went collectively mad, and took it out on women. I will check this book out. Favorites of mine are Stacy Schiff’s The Witches and the novel, The Heretic, which is told from the point of view of Martha Carrier’s daughter.
Excellent review! I spent the day once, in the 1980’s, at Salem. Though there was a sort of economy thriving upon the history, there was at a deeper and more widespread respect and even sadness about the place. To me it felt similar to walking on any historic battlefield, viscerally mournful.
Whether Salem happened because of ",the little winter" that caused some kind of mold in the crops or the Puritans got "too big for their britches" women( and some men) died and the Puritans sort of died out only to be resserected by Jonathan Edwards, a 19 year old introvert who changed the hearts of the newly reformed Congregationalists.
Being steeped in Church History (MTS) and from Rhode Island I am very aware at how strange it was for midwives and healers of the times and I abhor what was done. Why do women scare men so.
This is very beautifully written! There is nothing quite like putting names and realistic stories to the tragedy. Thanks for sharing even though it was hard to write!
Thank you for reading and commenting! I hope that the long wait just meant it was a better read 😊
I too have a fascination for this moment in time – when an entire community went collectively mad, and took it out on women. I will check this book out. Favorites of mine are Stacy Schiff’s The Witches and the novel, The Heretic, which is told from the point of view of Martha Carrier’s daughter.
Excellent review! I spent the day once, in the 1980’s, at Salem. Though there was a sort of economy thriving upon the history, there was at a deeper and more widespread respect and even sadness about the place. To me it felt similar to walking on any historic battlefield, viscerally mournful.
Whether Salem happened because of ",the little winter" that caused some kind of mold in the crops or the Puritans got "too big for their britches" women( and some men) died and the Puritans sort of died out only to be resserected by Jonathan Edwards, a 19 year old introvert who changed the hearts of the newly reformed Congregationalists.
Being steeped in Church History (MTS) and from Rhode Island I am very aware at how strange it was for midwives and healers of the times and I abhor what was done. Why do women scare men so.