Rating: 
Summary: Buy if you like your stockings blue
Review: Grade inflation is making it harder and harder to choose a book at Amazon these days. But to add a lonely dissenting voice to the Amen chorus: don't rush into buying this book if you love social history. The author is a feminist and Puritan-hater, which tends to limit her ability to write a satisfying account of life in a pre-industrialized Puritan community. First, the idea that all Puritan households were dour and repressive is a bit hackneyed. Weren't we taught not to generalize? Oh, I forgot--these are dead, white males. Next, it is misleading to impose a modern feminist framework on a time when almost everyone lived on a farm and men and women were full partners in running the homestead. Finally, there is no need to invoke "hysteria" to explain the behavior of the girls. They found a way to have fun and make themselves seem important at the same time. The more pertinent question is why their parents indulged them. Here we are left to chew over the possibility that they were paranoid because of Indian attacks, precipitated, of course, by the evil Puritan patriarchy. Doesn't it seem more likely that the trials were a rear-guard action of the Puritan elite as it saw its covenant community being watered down by immigration and generational change? But that's just a theory, too--and theories don't tend to facilitate well-rounded stories.
Rating: 
Summary: A Gripping Analysis of the Salem Witch Trials
Review: Having been to Salem, Mass. several times, and visited the historical sites and museums there, I felt that I had a good knowledge of the witch hysteria of 1692. After reading A Delusion of Satan, however, I have found that my knowledge was basic at best.
In A Delusion of Satan, Frances Hill provides a rich retelling of the events that draws from court documents, eyewitness accounts, and other primary sources. Also, Hill places the trials into their historical contexts; explaining the Puritan experiences leading up to the trials and the dangerous situation in which the colonists lived. This context also serves to help Hill hypothesize about what drove the original accusers into a frenzy. Hill's arguments about psychological opression and fear being the impetus for the hysteria are well developed and convincing. Astutely, Hill frequently points out that these are only theories. No one can ever know for certain what afflicted the girls. Equally convincing evidence is presented that suggests that treachery among the community may have fanned the flames of the witch hunt and helped guide the course of events.
A Delusion of Satan introduced me not only to details I had never read about before, but also to the personalities of those involved. Hill gleans this information mostly from court documents, written statements, and testimonies. The condemned, as well as the other key players, become vividly human and relatable.
While no modern writer or historian can declare to know the "truth" about every aspect of this frightening chapter in American history, A Delusion of Satan certainly serves as a useful, chilling, and entertaining witch-trial history. Readers (and some other reviewers) of this book should keep in mind that Hill's arguments and opinions are of course merely that. I have found no place in the book where she claims to have "the final answer" about the Salem witch trials. However, I find her positions sufficiently supported and highly plausible.
I highly recommend this book to readers interested in Salem, witch-trials, or early American history. You will not be disappointed!
Rating: 
Summary: Wow, what a story
Review: I learned the whole dang story 'bout the Salem witch trails. But some things were down right scary. Like when the "afflicted" could bend their limbs in impossible positions. That's all- enjoy the book y'll!!!
Rating: 
Summary: a weakly written yet fascinating account
Review: I'm not one of these 'witch folklore' nuts. In fact, this is the first and probably the only book on the Salem ordeal I'll likely ever read. Now this is not because I had any problems with the book, nor because I imagine I've learned everything there is to know. Those reasons are personal and have nothing to do with a book review.Anyway, Ms. Hill is not a particularly strong writer. Her sentences are weak and the prose is frequently boring. But she has such a fascinating approach to the events that the reader can't help but follow along with an almost manic grip to find out if what they might already know happened happened. In spite of what some of the other reviewers say, the psychological re-evalution of the girls and events seems pretty sound to me. Of course she might be applying a modern day sensability to the case, but so is everyone living and thinking about it today. Ms. Hill simply tries to do so from a more objective standpoint. It is clear that some of the previous reviewers have some sort of agenda of their own in the overly harsh and, frankly, incorrect statements made on this book. For example, one individual states that Tituba is condemned as a liar because 'she was not a Puritan'. This simply isn't true. Truth be told, she isn't condemned at all, but merely held up as a frightened slave in the days of slavery accused of witchcraft and doing anything she can to keep herself alive. She is not labeled a sinner or a heretic or anything any of these mordern day witch hunters might imagine the author to be. She is only depicted as a troubled and terrified woman who needed to latch on to the popular fear and craze of the moment to better herself in the uncertain and hopefully hopeless future. This is an informative and entertaining book without a single sentence of lingual wizardry. The more I think about it (regardless of my personal love for gorgeous prose) the better that seems for this particular tale of British Colonial history.
Rating:
Summary: Non-Fiction Page Turner
Review: I've never read a nonfiction book in 2 days before this one. This isn't the first book I've read on the topic, but it's far and away the best. It's admirably researched, very well organized, and the narrative style of the writing makes it a fast, interesting read (I never found it dull). I didn't feel bored by information I already knew, and there was plenty of information I didn't know. Hill presents a dignified portrait of the accused and, in my opinion, a very fair one of the accusers. Readers expecting to read about real paranormal phenomenon may be disappointed. Hill's narrative is sympathetic to the accusers while taking a careful look at their behavior and motivation. I finished the book thinking that Salem Village might have fared a lot better if Judge Danforth had taken the afflicted girls over his knee and given them a good spanking. All in all, an excellent, informed, and thought provoking account of this tragic event that never becomes sensationalistic.
Rating:
Summary: The only book on the Salem witch trials worth reading.
Review: In my opinion this is the only book on the Salem witch trials worth reading. It is the only one I have come across that doesn't try to excuse the actions of the so called "afflicted girls" and the villagers of Salem. Frances Hill gives an expert account of what I believe was the real cause of the witchcraft hysteria in Salem Village, while bringing up some very well-conceived viewpoints. Also it is very well written. All in all an excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: The only book on the Salem witch trials worth reading.
Review: In my opinion this is the only book on the Salem witch trials worth reading. It is the only one that I have come across that doesn't try to excuse the behaviour of the so called "afflicted girls" and the villagers of Salem. Frances Hill gives an expert account of what I believe was the real cause of the witchcraft hysteria in Salem Villiage. Also it is incredibly well written. All in all an excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: Well written, well researched and quite insightful!
Review: In this re-thinking of the Salem witch trials, Hill doesn't just report facts but rather analyzes the social, religous, economic, environmental and political forces in place at the time in order to come up with a plausible theory regarding the psychological mindset and motives of the parties involved.
This approach works well, because religious fanaticism simply fails to explain how such heinous acts could have been allowed to go on for so long before a stop was put to it. Instead, FH exposes the mental illness that likely set the acusers in motion, the paranoia and religious extremism that allowed them to be taken seriously, and the political and economic opportunism that compelled those in power to attack their enemies via witchcraft allegations.
Someone could certainly level the charge at the author that she is taking liberties in her analysis, but in a sense that is necessary because no one can definitively look back to 1692 and say for certain what was going on in the minds of the accused, the prosecutors and the accusers. However, LH qualifies her assertions, and they seem quite plausible given the evidence she cites.
One thing that may cause problems for some readers is that Hill never really seems to even consider that the events could have had a spiritual component to them. Any yet, the historical descriptions of the "fits" thrown by the accusers, fits in which their bodies twist into painful and unnatural shapes, as well as bleeding from the mouth, etc. - would no doubt convince many still today that the girls might have been "possessed". LH could have delved more into similar cases of hysteria in recent times to show the similarity, although many today would also argue for demon possession as a cause of many of today's psychological disorders. In fact a middle-ground approach would probably acknowledge that the distinction between psychological disorders and spiritual affliction is perhaps just one of perception.
Another fascinating effect of the book is to cause the reader to draw comparisons to modern day "witch hunts" - i.e. the holocaust, McCarthyism, etc. and to consider what part they would have played if they were present in 1692 and the potential for evil in all of us. It also makes one consider that the distinctions between guilt and innocence, victim and perpetrator are quite vague.
Overall a disturbing yet fascinating, well researched and well written telling and analysis of the events of 1692 in Salem.
Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Horribly fascinating
Review: Inspired by a field trip with my students to Salem, I browsed a little through Amazon's selections about the witch trials to find a good book to teach me more about what happened. I settled on this one, and was not disappointed. "A Delusion of Satan" is both well-written and well-researched. Frances Hill has used evidence from many primary sources to back up her descriptions of what happened in Salem in 1692. She is careful to present all of the information accurately, and has changed nothing except to modernize some of the grammar to make it easier for the reader to understand. The large bibliography at the back of the book attests to the amount of effort that went into researching the book, and also provides suggestions for further reading about the subject. Although historical accuracy is one of the most important aspects of a book like this, to earn five stars it also has to be readable. Hill's writing is clear and insightful, and many of the people in the story are made very real. The backgrounds of both the accused and the young girls doing the accusing are given in as much detail as is available. Hill's psychological analysis of the mass hysteria is believable and makes sense, at least to this layperson. The story of the Salem witch trials is chilling. We'd like to think that such a thing could *never* happen today. And yet, as Hill makes clear in her introduction, such modern "witch-hunts" *do* occur, though many of us are unaware. Reading this book reminds you that open-mindedness and willingness to embrace the unknown should be traits that we all share. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to learn more about this horrible period in our history.
Rating:
Summary: Non-Fiction Page Turner
Review: This always seems to be one of those historical events that gets mentioned, but very briefly, in history textbooks. Frances Hill really brought it to life for me. She brought in details about the people involved that really struck emotional chords with me. I liked her use of many primary sources, and her epilogue nicely tied it together without becoming preachy. I wish she would have explained how the psychological phenomenom of hysteria works a little more thoroughly, so I guess I will just have to do some additional reading of my own. Hill also explains the background--psychological, cultural, religious, even geographical--very well to help explain why the people acted the ways they did. Overall, an excellent book that not only informed me about the event, but helped me connect on an emotional level to the people.
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