Hello, I am having trouble finding books at my local library about the European Witch Trials and also, the Salem trials here in the US. I am wondering if you have any good recommendations for books that explain the whole event. Thank you, Gravy
Not a book, but there's a movie called The Crucible, from a play of the same name, both written by Arthur Miller. The coutroom testimony was taken from the actual court records of the Salem witch trials. Trailer:
I have this book on my shelf: The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege Fascinating reading
Thank you so much for this recommendation. I snagged it from the library as other people were also recommending it. (My library seems to suck though, because there are SO few actual history books. And I am in a big city, which is weird...)
Some parts of it are dramatized. Apparently there were no sexual shenanigans between John Proctor and—whoever the girl is played by Winona Ryder, because she was like 11 in real life. I've been watching this video: which gives some more context.
OMG. That's pretty damn young... XD (Not sure how I feel about that. It's uncomfortable for me, personally.) But thanks so much for the context video. I will look into that one. I know some of what Arthur Miller wrote was artistic license, so I am excited to see what ends up being true.
It's not the focus of the book but I read Carlos Eire's massive book Reformations a few years ago and I remember he gives some good overview/ citations for the post-reformation witch trials in Europe. His bibliography would probably be a treasure trove for further research. At their height, entire towns were depopulated in Germany. As I recall the Lutheran witch hunters were by far the most vicious- you had better chances with the Inquisition.
Other people have mentioned relevant books on this, but I've read a book that may help with the bigger picture: "Puritans at Play: Leisure and Recreation in Colonial New England" by Bruce C. Daniels. Not surprisingly, this is a large-scale examination of how people in Colonial New England spent their leisure time - and the true picture is much more varied, and less straight-laced, than anyone might expect. A terrific book, thoroughly recommended. Yes, I studied Arthur Miller's play in my senior year. It's a disturbing portrayal of a society driven to destruction by false-but-plausible accusations. Miller wrote it as an allegory for the McCarthyism era. If you haven't heard of it - here's the wikipedia entry. Enjoy. Basically, Senator Joseph McCarthy (in the late 40s) was making hay out of false accusations against Hollywood actors/actresses/writers, bankers, TV/radio producers and stars, US soldiers and generals, fellow politicians etc. ... that they were Communists, or Communist sympathisers. These accusations were often made with only the flimsiest shred of proof, and sometimes with no proof at all -- but they were normally enough to drive people out of their profession, lose their friends, and so on. Not only that, but it was shameless politicking at its worst. Initially, the US public got behind McCarthy, but public opinion slowly turned against him, especially due to the tireless and brave efforts of Edward R. Murrow, a man who deserves to be well-known today. See his wikipedia entry. Also, a film was made in 2005 on the battle between Murrow and McCarthy.
I do know about that angle of it. Somewhere in here a few years ago I wrote something about it. It seems not too many yearsgo by before some part of society becomes too authoritarian and launches into some new kind of witch hunts. It's one side one year, and the other side the next.
Thanks for so much great information. I was aware of the McCarthy era and that was the stumbling block I had. I couldn't figure out how to tip the scales toward socital downfall. But now that I have outline the story, it's becoming more apparent.
I think it's really interesting that the two events parallel one another. I also think back to the Spanish Inquisition and other times in history where people went completely insane.
I recently listened to Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts by Bill Reilly and Martin Dugard. It covers considerably more than the witch trials, sometimes going considerably far afield, but is worth checking out.
O'Reilly, and I'm pretty sure Dugard does most of the writing anyway. The whole Killing series is good (ignoring the politics) and many are available in Kindle Unlimited.
I didn't realize there was a series until I googled to make sure I had Dugard's name right. Tsk. And then I failed Mr. O'Reilly. I'm not inclined to read other books in the series. In Killing the Witches, the authors strung together (among other events) the witch situation in Salem, a fairly detailed biography of Benjamin Franklin, a twentieth century exorcism, and a final statement on modern day political witch hunts. Based on that format, I'd expect Killing Lincoln to contain a chapter or three on Secretary of War Jefferson Davis's support of the United State's Army's Camel Corp Experiment and another chapter devoted to Robert E. Lee's courtship of Mary Randolph Custis. I've wandered off topic. Apologies.
