The Witches: Salem, 1692, Library Edition

Review THE WITCHES is the fullest and finest story ever told about Salem in 1692, and no one else could tell it with the otherworldly flair of Stacy Schiff -- Joseph J. Ellis Pulitzer Prize-winning author of THE QUARTET From Cleopatra to the Salem coven. From intelligent rule to hysteria, mayhem, and murder. The Salem witch trials offer Stacy Schiff an out-sized drama that seized Americans' imaginations more than 300 years ago. All of Schiff's books demonstrate her rigor as a historian and her dexterity as a stylist. THE WITCHES proves she has something else: the instincts of a thriller writer. This book needs a seat belt -- Kathryn Harrison author of JOAN OF ARC This brilliant, compelling book is the most meticulously researched, effectively constructed, and beautifully written work I have read in a very long time. It is dramatic history and also a timeless thriller: who - or what - drove a New England town to madness three centuries ago, resulting in the deaths of nineteen men and women for 'witchcraft?' The answers are astonishing -- Robert K. Massie Pulitzer Prize-winning author of CATHERINE THE GREAT Once again Stacy Schiff dazzles us. THE WITCHES is a must read for anyone intrigued by this baffling and horrifying chapter from America's Puritan past. What Schiff uncovers is mesmerizing and shocking. Her meticulous research and lyrical writing lay bare an injustice that we should never forget - lest we repeat it -- Patricia Cornwell author of DEPRAVED HEART Stacy Schiff has beautifully combined remarkable story telling with historical accuracy and insight. She has opened up important new avenues for Salem scholarship -- Bernard Rosenthal editor of RECORDS OF THE SALEM WITCH-HUNT Stacy Schiff's THE WITCHES is an indelibly etched morality fable, the best recounting of the Salem hysteria in modern times. Clear-eyed and sympathetic, Schiff makes the complex seem simple, crafting a taut narrative that takes in religion, politics, folklore, and the intricate texture of daily life in Massachusetts Bay, with particular attention to those 'wonder-working' women and girls who chose this moment to blow apart the Puritan utopia they'd helped to found. It's all here in one devilish, oracular book -- Megan Marshall Pulitzer Prize-winning author of MARGARET FULLER Enchanting. Out of the shadows of the past come excitable young girls, pompous ministers, abusive judges, grieving parents, and angry neighbours, all of them caught up in a terrifying process that seemed to have no end: discovering who among them deserved death for being in league with Satan. THE WITCHES is as close as we will ever come to understanding what happened in and around Salem in 1692. Courtrooms, streets, churches, farmyards, taverns, bedrooms - all became theatre-like places where anger, anxiety, sorrow, and tragedy are entangled. An astonishing achievement -- David D. Hall, Bartlett Research Professor of New England Church History, Harvard University Stacy Schiff has brought her extraordinary gifts as researcher and writer to revivify the old but endlessly compelling story of the 1692 Salem witch hunt. Her mastery of detail, her ingenuity in spotting connections and trend lines, and her intuitive feel for the people involved combine in a brilliant portrayal of cascading human tragedy. It is sharply etched. It is ground level. It is emotionally powerful. It is full of surprising twists and turns. If history is time travel, this is a journey readers will never forget -- John Demos author of ENTERTAINING SALEM About the Author Stacy Schiff is the author