From the Publisher
This historical narrative of the Salem witch trials takes its dialogue from actual trial records but applies modern psychiatric knowledge to the witchcraft hysteria. Starkey's sense of drama also vividly recreates the atmosphere of pity and terror that fostered the evil and suffering of this human tragedy.

Finally got around to reading this after all these years!

This is not a light and fluffy read (and I didn’t expect it to be). The first half of the book is mostly about Puritan culture and how the Salem Witch hysteria began. The last half is about the jailing and hanging of accused witches and the aftermath of this phase of history.

I was really expecting more about people being burned at the stake (never mentioned in this book) and various other witch “tests” I’ve read about.

I appreciated the care that the author put into reviewing the available historical records of the time and building out the “witches” stories, but I did struggle to keep my focus at times.

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