In the book Salem Possessed, the authors Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum attempt to explain the causes and effects of the Salem Witch Trials. Set in Salem, Massachusetts, the authors identify many things that made this specific community unique from other Puritan societies of the era, and how those components triggered the outbreak of witchcraft accusations while similar communities did not experience anything so extreme. Supporting their arguments with statistics ranging from differences in taxes to specific family connections, they succeed in convincing the reader that these trials were a unique and unfortunate occurrence that could have only taken place under the most specific of conditions; these conditions were met in Salem.
Salem was divided into two separate regions; Salem Town, and Salem Village. As time passed and the development of this Puritan society developed, a social and economic split emerged between the two regions, demonstrated by the Putnam and Porter......
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Approximate Word Count: 1384
Approximate Pages: 6 (260 words per double-spaced page) |