by Mary Beth Norton
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Product Description
In January 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts, two young girls began to suffer from inexplicable fits. Seventeen months later, after legal action had been taken against 144 people—20 of them put to death—the ignominious Salem witchcraft trials finally came to an end.
Now, Mary Beth Norton—one of our most ad-mired historians—gives us a unique account of the events at Salem, helping us to understand them as they were understood by those who lived through the frenzy. Describing the situation from a seventeenth-century perspective, Norton examines the crucial turning points, the accusers, the confessors, the judges, and the accused, among whom were thirty-eight men. She shows how the situation spiraled out of control following a cascade of accusations beginning in mid-April. She explores the role of gossip and delves into the question of why women and girls under the age of twenty-five, who were the most active accusers and who would normally be ignored by male magistrates, were suddenly given absolute credence.
Most important of all, Norton moves beyond the immediate vicinity of Salem to demonstrate how the Indian wars on the Maine frontier in the last quarter of that century stunned the collective mindset of northeastern New England and convinced virtually everyone that they were in the devil’s snare. And she makes clear that ultimate responsibility for allowing the crisis to reach the heights it did must fall on the colony’s governor, council, and judges.
A vivid, authoritative historical evocation and exploration that will alter forever the way we think about one of the most perennially fascinating and horrifying events in our history.
Amazon.com Review
The story of the Salem witchcraft trials is well known, from both historical accounts and dramatic retellings, such as Arthur Miller's play The Crucible. Cornell historian Mary Beth Norton now offers a significant reinterpretation of the events that (by her count) led to legal action against at least 144 people, 54 confessions of witchcraft, 19 hangings, and one "pressing to death ... by heavy stones." Norton's contribution is to contextualize what happened. She studies not just Salem itself, but all of Essex County and northern New England, because so many of the people involved in the witchcraft crisis didn't live in Salem proper. She also says these grim events must be understood in relation to King William's War, which the early Americans called the Second Indian War. This frontier conflict and the religious interpretations thrust upon it created the conditions for what happened in Salem and the surrounding region, which, says Norton, would not have occurred in the war's absence. As might be expected, her narrative does not proceed along traditional lines. It is driven more by the academic imperative to break scholarly ground than by the urge to tell a harrowing story. For readers interested in knowing what really happened at Salem, though, In the Devil's Snare may be the best source. --John J. Miller
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Plenty of research; very dense, 2008-07-22
Dense is good when publishing for other scholars. Dense can be tedious for "commercial market" readers, and this review admittedly comes from a commercial-market reader/reviewer. The author's credentials and scholarship are never in doubt in "Devil's Snare," so after a few direct 17th-century direct quotations - tortured syntax, god-awful spelling, and all - we common readers would have likely preferred that she used more paraphrase and summary instead of dozens of those quotes. Certainly the book would be more easily read.
With that somewhat unkind opening paragraph, it must be said that the first half of the book was engrossing, and surprisingly hard to put down. Ms. Norton deserves great credit for stating her thesis for "Devil's Snare" quickly and clearly: that the Salem witch-trial events were driven mainly by two factors, which she claims as her discoveries: 1) the young girl accusers were strongly motivated by recent memories and traumas of Indian raids in the outlying areas of the Massachusetts colony; and 2) the astonishing speed and efficiency of the women's talk network (OK, "gossip system"). She mentions other factors, all of which have been treated exhaustively by many other historians. Nevertheless, the book does take considerable time discussing the influence of religious authority, past and contemporaneous, and the lack of status and influence given to young girls and women in that society.
Even after the interesting beginning, "Devil's Snare" gets snared itself in the many, many individuals and testimonies which fill page after page. The main problem for the reader is that everything has equal weight. This often makes understanding difficult. Perhaps this is a mark of good scholarship, but it makes for slower reading. Also beware the 50-caliber endnotes. The fact that so much information is tucked into the back of the book, rather than in the main text, can be distracting because of flipping the pages back and forth. This reviewer found it handier to check this book from the library, rather than purchasing. If you are doing a term paper on the subject, however, this would be a good buy.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 A new take on the Salem trials:Incredible research,but a struggle to read, 2008-07-21
With astounding research and insightfulness, Mary Beth Norton supplies a new causation to the hysteria that revolved around Salem and its environs in 1692. Instead of looking at herbal or irrational causes, Norton locks onto the culture of fear present in that area due to the ongoing battles with Indians in New England. Through dogged research and a thorough understanding of the culture and religious mores of the period, she makes an excellent argument that these events occurred in response to the terror faced by those that survived the Indian massacres in Maine and this was intensified by conflicts within the community. She creates a valid argument for her conclusions and creates the most compelling case to our understanding of what really happened in Salem. With informative appendices and copious notes, Norton's study only lacks the style of a David McCullough or Doris Kearns Goodwin to make it truly enjoyable reading as well excellent history. It is a struggle to work through this book as it reads like course work, far dryer than many contemporary works of non-fiction. But the end result is worth it as the knowledge gained from this book gives great insight into one of the more infamous events in colonial American history.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A great work of scholarship from a fine historian, 2008-05-30
I've read a lot on Salem, and I personally think the topic has been beaten to death. I've read a few of Norton's other books, and I greatly respect her as a historian. Thus, I thought I would give this book a try.
First, the research is amazing. Norton has scoured all the available sources, and every bit of information is meticulously documented with notes. One gets a great sense of just how complicated the Salem crises was just by looking at her notes.
Second, I think--more than any other author on the subject--that Norton provides the context. She brilliantly frames the trials in the mindset, theology, politics, diplomacy and warfare of the time. Her book does a very thorough job of connecting the Salem crisis to King William's War, the Dominion of New England, and other major events of the time.
Yet, there are problems with the book. It is at times very hard to follow because of the immense level of detail. Unlike others, Norton does not focus on just some of the most prominent figures. She literally discusses everyone and everything involved in the crisis. It can be overwhelming. Moreover, as others have noted, the writing can be very dry and repetitious. She stresses the connections to Indian wars again and again and again, and I think the book could have benefited, especially for general readers, from some trimming.
Finally, one should not think one has the definitive interpretation of Salem in this book. I don't think that is what Dr. Norton intended either. She acknowledges the vast amount of literature on Salem, and I think anyone who reads this book must not read it thinking they have a full explanation. Connections between the accused, accusers, and the Indian wars get a lot of time in the book. However, connections between accused and accusers get little attention. Oddly, gender is not much talked about, nor is Calvinist theology. Other authors have dealt brilliantly with those topics, and Norton's book fits in to the historiography on Salem very well. It is not the final word or only word on the topic, so do not expect it to be.
What you can expect is a scholarly, extremely well researched, and very detailed study that provides essential narrative and context for the Salem crisis. No doubt the book will challenge general readers who do not have a lot of background, but it will prove very rewarding for the patient reader.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
 BAD, BAD, BAD, 2007-11-02
As a history graduate student I respect scholarship....THIS IS BAD. Pages and pages of repetition is useless. OK, I get it, this person afflicted that person, but after 20 examples the next 600 were not worth reading. This could have been reduced to about 110-150 pages. I can understand enlightenment thinkers, but Norton has confused the heck out of me. On page 237, I still have no idea where she is going with anything...
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Great perspective on the Salem Witchcraft trials, 2007-07-07
Mary Beth Norton is a great historian who does thorough research. In this book, she goes over an old topic but looks at it in a completely new way. She does deal with the issue of why it was primarily women who were accused or doing the accusing. Her main argument, however, is that the witchcraft trials in Salem were a product of the Indian wars. I've studied this topic for a couple years now and this is a refreshing, new approach to the topic. A great, and very easy, read.
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