Witch-Hunting in Seventeenth-Century New England: A Documentary History, 1638-1693

Sometimes it's forgotten that the witchcraft trials in Salem Village in 1692 were more the climax than the beginning of such happenings in 17th c. New England. In this excellent collection of hard-to-find documentary materials, David D. Hall covers the phenomenon from its first stirrings to the hysteria of 1692. In the process of persuing these materials, the reader realizes how widespread and complicated the situation was. After reading this book, you may not have many answers as to why the witchcraft persecutions happened when and where they did, but you will have a much better appreciation of what actually happened. Good accompanying reading: _Entertaining Satan_ by John Putnam Demos.