Summary Of The Witches: Salem 1692

In the book, The Witches: Salem 1692, the author Stacy Schiff attempts to condense a large volume of research into a cohesive narrative that tries to avoid to much speculation. There is some contention that the book does speculate into the motives of primary accusers that some reviewers have intimated are bordering on fiction. However, the author defends her arguments logically, and her inferences do seem to bridge the gaps effectively.
One of the items that causes some confusion, to both the historically curious, and to the researcher is that the author has created a list of dramatis personae in which the historical figures are labeled as a cast of characters which might make the book seem fictional. While these brief introductions of the

Jane Kamensky of the New York Times reviewed the book for the literary section of her newspaper, Kamensky was very critical of the authors arrangement and narrative. Even going so far as to claim that "By almost any measure, the Salem crisis is more gripping than it was important. The Witches, Schiff's glib, compendious and often maddening account of the events of that fateful year, does a great deal to punch up the story, but little to explore, and still less to understand its significance." (Kamensky) When looking at this from a historical point of view, Kamensky's review would seem to make The Witches: Salem 1692 an unreliable source. However, when taken in context, the book dovetails nicely with other works such as Salem Possessed by Boyer and Nissenbaum
While the author of The Witches: Salem 1692, is not a trained historian, she has a team of researchers that do the fact checking and ensure that the author's information is authentic and not the mythologized claptrap that predominates popular culture. The book does not offer any new insights into the motivations or reasons that the Witch hysteria peaked as it did in Salem, the author does an excellent job at presenting the material in an easy to read and mentally digest