And Hysteria in 1692 Salem - The Witches

Stacy Schiff unwittingly reviews her own book on page 347 when she writes this about Cotton Mather's work defending the indefensible...."THE WORK IS JUMBLED, LUMPY, AND DELIRIOUSLY INCOHERENT!! Couldn't have said it better! I read a lot of non-fiction and this is the worst I've ever read. I guess because she won a Pulitzer for another book, the publisher just said..."throw it together anyway you want. We won't even edit it. It'll be a best seller. Who cares?" Worst is that even with 400+ pages she didn't bother to give ALL the innocent women their just due by naming them. For one, Wilmot Redd, who was hung on 9/22/1692 is NEVER mentioned. I think there were 2 or 3 others she ignored also. How do you write a "definitive" account of this horror and leave out names?

This is a thoroughly-detailed account of the course of the Witch Hysteria and its subsequent trials, in northeast Massachusetts, during the year 1692. The narrative does get repetitive, but then again, the behaviour of the citizenry was extremely redundant. I find Ms. Schiff's scholarship excellent.

I preordered this book but honestly, I couldn't get through the first few chapters. I thought I was reading someone's notes, not a finished product. I really wanted to like this book but the style wasn't for me.

Readers who are already pretty familiar with the subject of the 1692 Salem witch trials will probably enjoy this book more than those who are coming cold to the event. Schiff's book isn't arranged in conventional narrative style--because the story itself of that year in Massachusetts doesn't go in a clean narrative line--but if you don't know who the key players are--accused, accusers, confessors, ministers, magistrates--her approach is likely to be bewildering. It's helpful, too, to have some familiarity with the background and temper of the New England colonies at the time--how and why uncertainty, fear, and paranoia contributed to the mass hysteria.

That said: Schiff's book is fascinating for the odd corners and vivid details it illuminates--mini-essays on indentured servitude (a number of the "afflicted" girls were orphaned servants with no future prospects) and the political-theological divisions among the authorities who ruled the colony. It's a good addition to a bookshelf that already contains some more basic texts on the subject.

Readers who are already pretty familiar with the subject of the 1692 Salem witch trials will probably enjoy this book more than those who are coming cold to the event. Schiff's book isn't arranged in conventional narrative style--because the story itself of that year in Massachusetts doesn't go in a clean narrative line--but if you don't know who the key players are--accused, accusers, confessors, ministers, magistrates--her approach is likely to be bewildering. It's helpful, too, to have some familiarity with the background and temper of the New England colonies at the time--how and why uncertainty, fear, and paranoia contributed to the mass hysteria.

That said: Schiff's book is fascinating for the odd corners and vivid details it illuminates--mini-essays on indentured servitude (a number of the "afflicted" girls were orphaned servants with no future prospects) and the political-theological divisions among the authorities who ruled the colony. It's a good addition to a bookshelf that already contains some more basic texts on the subject.

I eagerly anticipated Schiff's new book as her previous volume on Cleapatra was stuning. The book promised a lot - great writing , a good story, the supernatural, some history, but it fell short on all measures. The author was very factual and it was clear that she documented her facts heavily. This made her history valid, but rather dull. I found that there were more characters in and out and in again, throught this book, that a scorecard was needed to stay with the story. The book did not carry a clear or consistent story line as well. It jumped off, again and again and with each shift, I was less inclined to pick it up to continue. Ultimately, I stopped about 1/3 of the way into the story. I was not sufficiently engaged nor was my interest sufficiently piqued that I could continue on picking up all the colored threads and trying to fit them into a pattern. I was so disappointed.

Although this book's topic is interesting, it is written in such a way that it is very difficult to read. The author is often unclear in identifying who she is referring to and often loses the reader when transitioning from one subject or person to another. Also, I am an fairly intelligent person and an avid reader, but the author writes in such a manner that I needed to google definitions frequently. This was frustrating and annoying. I realize much of the dialog was written in Old English and was necessary to reflect the time period, however, the author often described events and people for the reader in a manner that did not flow well. If this book was intended for research purposes, then it is understandable that is was written in an academic manner. However, if you are interested in the Salem witch hunts in 1692 and are looking for an informative and enjoyable read, this book is not something I would recommend. Although the topic was fascinating, I celebrated when I finally completed the book because it was a difficult read.

The research was appreciated but the writing seemed uneven to me. If Ms. Schiff had a point of view it escaped me. Nor did it seem that this was designed to be an academic and morally neutral text. It is a welcome addition to the literature on the Salem witches, though a modest one.

I was motivated to read this book and am interested in the topic, but I couldn't get past the first three chapters. At first I thought that the author was setting the stage by listing a bunch of facts and that the storytelling would start eventually. I eventually gave up and moved on to another book.

This book was clever and amusing in lots of places. But it lacked intellectual rigor and first line scholarship. The focus on the individual witches, who were in fact victims, and powerless, bordered on sensationalism and exploitation. For that reason, the book did not cohere for me.

Lots of detail, maybe too much for some folks. But, the detail paints a picture that is truly gripping of the times and how the witch trials could have happened! The book still haunts me and was a mind-altering picture of a time in history that ultimately changed our country. Enthralling!

The subject matter of this book is very interesting to me but the level of detail and the length of the book made it tedious to read. Nevertheless, I appreciated learning more about a phenomenon I little understood.