In the Devil's Snare

Book, 1969

Status

Available

Call number

133.43097445

Genres

History

General Nonfiction

Religion & Spirituality

Nonfiction

All Topics

Collection

Your library

Publication

Publisher Unknown (1969)

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. Mary Beth Norton 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. 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.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member jemsw

This book works well in bringing history to life, using primary sources to lend immediacy, while broadening the cast of characters beyond those obvious, overdiscussed few. I've recommended this book to students of mine and consider it a good read as well as a good work of history.

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LibraryThing member JennieSue

Norton examines why a relatively common situation, accusations of witchcraft, spun so far out of control in Salem in 1692. She argues that the tensions caused by the French and Indian Wars led the residents of Salem and the surrounding area to feel they were under attack by the devil both

physically (in the form of Indians) and spiritually (in the form of witches). It's a compelling argument and one of the few explanations I've seen that is based on the context in which the panic occurred rather than judged by modern standards.

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LibraryThing member arelenriel

This book depicts the tale of the Salem Witchcraft Trials as a struggle between the powerful landowners of Eastern Massachusetts. I find this to be a much more plausible theory than ergot poisoning etc. Good for history buffs.

LibraryThing member Angelic55blonde

I love Mary Beth Norton. I love her writing style and I trust most her research. This is an intersting book about the Salem Witchcraft trials. She makes some interesting conclusions. I love this book.

LibraryThing member PirateJenny

Another book about the Salem witch trials. The author puts forth a theory I hadn't really been familiar with but that I found interesting. That the eastward--the frontier of Maine (which at that time was pretty close to Salem)--provided a lot of the reasons for the trials. The Puritans, after all,

felt that America was a heathen land, ruled by the devil, and they were the ones who brought God there. A lot of the accusers described seeing a "dark man" with the wtiches, which is a term frequently used by them to describe Indians. Also at that time, King Charles' War wasn't distant history and the Wabanakis and the French were extremely violent toward the English. Many of the accused and accusers had links to towns in Maine that had been decimated and families that had been killed and/or abducted. (On a more personal note, the Penobscot, which T's distantly descended from, were a smaller group of Wabanaki, which could, in a far-fetched idea, mean that his distant ancestors may have had some impact on this whole thing. Yes, my imagination does fly free sometimes.)

Anyway, good book with a very interesting theory. And the author takes into account the men who were accused more than any other author I've read on the subject, which I appreciated.

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LibraryThing member JBD1

The best recent account of the witch trials.

LibraryThing member Schmerguls

This book is rigorously researched and tells in exhaustive detail of the events in Salem in 1692, usually by quoting extensively from the extant records. The records are quoted using old spelling, which makes the reading less smooth than one would like. I found most of the book very dry and only

the final chapters aroused my interest. The records are related based on what the people knew, and are thus non-judgmental while therecords are set out--which can't help but annoy . I did not enjoy reading this book

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LibraryThing member mbmackay

This book was a fail for me. I'm sure that Mary Beth Norton is the master of her material, but she failed to present in a manner that would make her mastery accessible to the average reader.
She has masses of detail, which can be fine, but maybe a little bit more care in providing context and

background would work better.
I fell off the horse about 10% through the book. Maybe I'll return when I have a lot of time and few books more attractive in the reading queue.
Partly read Sept 2016

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LibraryThing member DarthDeverell

In In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692, Mary Beth Norton argues, “The witchcraft crisis of 1692 can be comprehended only in the context of nearly two decades of armed conflict between English settlers and the New England Indians in both southern and northern portions of

the region” (pg. 12). She further writes, “As in no other event in American history until the rise of the women’s rights movement in the nineteenth century, women took center stage at Salem: they were the major instigators and victims of a remarkable public spectacle” (pg. 4). Returning to her argument, Norton writes, “The histories of King William’s War, King Philip’s War (its equally brutal predecessor in the 1670s), and the Salem witchcraft crisis are intricately intertwined. In the Devil’s Snare explicates those links through what has evolved into a dual narrative of war and witchcraft” (pg. 5). Discussing the interconnectedness of Massachusetts and Maine farmers, Norton writes, “Gossip thus serves as a leitmotif” (pg. 6). Responding to the historiography’s attempt to discuss the differences between Salem and other witchcraft crises, Norton writes, “To explain these anomalies it is necessary to abandon the intense focus on Salem Village common to most studies and to place the witchcraft crisis in the broader context of Essex County and northern New England” (pg. 11). Further, “The consequences were all the more devastating because they happened twice in quick succession: war broke out again just as refugees who had originally fled Maine in 1676 had successfully reestablished themselves and were once more expanding their settlements” (pg. 11).

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LibraryThing member cynthia.brandt

Horrid. Reads like a textbook.

LibraryThing member LibraryCin

2.5 stars

In addition to looking at the accusations and trials of the “witches” in the Salem, Mass. area in the late 17th century, this author looks at other things happening in the area at the time to see if there is a connection. Specifically, the First and Second Indian Wars happened in the

years leading up to the witch accusations and trials.

I do find the Salem witches an interesting topic, but a number of nonfiction books I’ve read about it (including this one) have not held my interest. I do find it hard, sometimes, to read books with a lot of quotations from other sources, and this one (and other books on this topic) has a lot of that.

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