Story of the Salem Witch Trials, The

Rating:
Summary: Poor Performance of a very good Story.
Review: Although very detailed, packed with information, I would not go as far as calling this book a narrative as the Amazon Review did. LeBeau very likely choses his words and it all looks good -a tight summary of a very interesting topic, good language, etc. I started reading with a vengeance but shortly after the first 50 pages I got extremely bored by the book, because in combination with the language and the huge amount of compressed data, I simply was not able to both stay interested in the topic and remember all the incidents. I think if somebody would count the names that appear on those 300 pages, you'd probably get a few thousands. Of course you get a date to every person that appears in the book and of course you get a lot of cross-references to persons the author already mentioned. In my opinion this is not a very good book because you can't use it just for quick reference like a good encyclopedia (because that's exactly what it is with these tons of information)nor can you just dip into it for a good read. The only thing that saved at least three stars for the book is the story itself. And it was written by one of the most powerful author's of all time.
History itself. The Salem Witch Trials is a story of betrayal, superstition, murder, conspiration, corrupt small town politics ... something one can still consider as a methaphor for modern life, because there still are these things after all.

Rating:
Summary: Great work on a depressing time!
Review: I had to write a research paper on the Salem Witch Trials. My teacher recommended this book. I thought it was wonderful! This was the only book I needed for my research paper and I got an A+! My relative's were some of those killed and put in jail during the Salem Witch Trials! The only problem I have is that the author doesn't write books for all of my research papers! Thank You!

Rating:
Summary: Hang Thy Neighbor
Review: This is a very straightforward and unassuming study of the Salem Witch Trials, an event that encompassed a rather small group of people over a short time period, but continues to capture our imagination. It's the mother of all witch-hunts and amply illustrates how seemingly rational people can be swept up by mass hysteria. Le Beau's most interesting revelations here involve how dozens of people were tried and executed based on the circumstantial testimony of just a few teenage girls. These girls were proven to be influenced by the hysteria around them, coached by the authorities, and even afflicted with psychosis. Le Beau finds that the Salem saga was at its core an outbreak of social control arising from some minor political strife in the town, the rapidly changing social order, the desire to punish those women (and a few men) who spoke their minds and refused to fit into rigid Puritan social strictures, and closed-minded religious mania. Le Beau acts as an impartial investigative journalist here and mostly refrains from offering his own opinions and conclusions, instead sticking to analyses of theories offered by other historians. Le Beau's avoidance of taking a stand does make this book rather dry and workmanlike, but we are rewarded with an impartial study that we can use to reach our own conclusions. Some extra food for thought is the connections Le Beau finds between the Salem saga and other mass persecutions that could be called symbolic witch-hunts - like communist purges, anti-communist red scares, child abuse allegations, satanic cult conspiracy theories, and other types of social hysteria that will continue to torment the innocent in the future.