Book review of In the Devil
The author of In The Devil's Snare The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 was written by Mary Beth Norton. The book was published by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York in 2002. It was distributed by Random House, Inc., New York in 2002. This book covers the chronological events of the Salem Witchcraft Trials. The author writes in a 17th century standpoint that is in terms of the 17th century, and starts the well known story with the affliction of two young girls who happen to live in the same household of Reverend Samuel Parrish. One main point that Norton covers is the key role of adult men in legitimizing the complaints of the afflicted persons. Norton also looks at important turning points, the accusers, the confessors, the judges, and the accused. She makes it clear to point out that thirty-eight men were part of accused. She illustrates how trials spun out of control and how gossip played a role in the trials. Norton also looks at how women under the age of twenty five, who would normally be ignored, were given credibility in the Salem Witchcraft trials. Most importantly she looks into how the Indian wars could have disturbed the way of thinking for the village and northeastern New England.
The author has noted that while researching for information key pieces of evidence were destroyed by either participants or relatives. Norton argues that the council tried to shift their inadequate military defense of the wars over to the so called evident demons in their village. Although Mary Beth Norton obviously writes this book with a bias towards women's rights, but her level of objectivity is equally distributed among the men, the county's government, and the Second Indian Wars. She sheds new light on the possible connections of the witchcraft trials to the Indian Wars. This resulted in their presiding over many deaths of many innocent people. Although most of the official records from the courts have been misplaced, she is able to clearly understand the hearings and lay it out for us to see. With that she attempts to look at all sides of the war and the cause and effect. In the Devils' Snare assists a great deal in understanding the tragic ordeal of 1692. Mary Beth Norton has clearly accomplished a great task at hand by examining different areas of the trials that no other author has taken the time to do so. This was the standard stereotype of a 17th century witch. It is crucial to hopefully understanding why innocent men, women, and children were killed. She informs the readers that a few of the afflicted were refugees of the Main frontier. Lastly she discusses the courts grand and petty juries. Norton shows a bias towards women's rights and the association of men and politics in New England during the 17th century. One of Norton's strength in writing this book is explaining how the Second Indian War, also coined King William's War, played a role in the military and political affairs of northern New England.
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