[.ca] The Devil in Massachusetts (ISBN 0385035098)

An Informative Read:
I recently became interested in Salem Witch trials and related subjects, and Starkey's "The Devil in Massachusetts" was recommended to me as a starting point. And, it was an interesting read. It is the first book to which I would read about the witch trials in 1692 Salem. I also find it interesting to learn about the reactions from the locals and authorities to hysteria or paranoia regarding "witches" in Salem and relating tales. It involved a look at the social background from both accused and the accusers during this time period. It almost reminds me of reading about the mass hysteria of Chinese society of 1768 in Philip Kuhn's "Soulstealers." This book was first published in 1949, and it is roughly 300 pages with twenty-two chapters. The writing style almost read as a historical scholarly article as it is almost wordy. However, the information lies within interests me to inquire further on the subject to which the "selected bibliography" was helpful for starting a research. In my opinion, it is very informative reading, and it is certainly shows one example of a mass hysteria that can happen in any town or society.

Worthwhile read:
I really enjoyed Starkey's version of the trials. One complaint I have seen is the inaccuracy of this book, however, I have seen many inaccuracies in many things. Truth beknown, a lot of "theory" is out there, from a time that there are scads of missing records from. Look at how many theories abound on the reason behind the hysteria itself. I very much enjoyed this book, and reccomend adding this to your Salem library.

The Devil in Massachusetts:
The Devil in Massachusetts is based on the Salem Witch Trials, one of the most interesting things in U.S. History, the author just made it very boring and from her own understanding of the Witch Trials. This book is designed to be read for college level students. First of all, the different chapters in the book were very confusing, a different character a chapter then bringing back up the same character after many chapters. Although she does provide enough information leading to the trials and what happened afterwards, however it was plain and very hard to follow. For example, who was John Indian? She keeps mentioning him on and off, which got me confused of whom and what he stands for in the book. Overall, Starkey's view of the witch craft hysteria was confusing and very boring; though it had a lot of information, it was inaccurate. I'd recommend this book to college level students and to people who have an interest in the witch trials, not of what really happened and what really went on in Salem Town in 1692.

A good novel, not a good historical reference of Salem W:
First of all, Starkey is not a historian she is a journalist who were interested writing about the witchcraft. The book was more like a novel (with lots of drama) than arguments or explain why did the Salem Witchcraft evoked during the year of 1692. She focused on the trials and what the characters did, but she did not explain or argued why certain characters, such as Ann Putnam, did what she did during the outbreak of witchcraft. If you are interested reading about the Salem witchcraft, instead of trying to understand what really happened, this would be a good book for you. Besides that, I don't recommened anyone reading it unless you like drama, because at the end of her book she complicated the story with her opinions and random facts.

50 year old book relevant today:
An engrossing narrative account of the Salem Witch Trials. An example of mass hysteria that that has parallels to be found in most of human history. I am not a scholar of this event so I will take the word of the critics regarding some historical inaccuracies although they seem relatively trivial. I like the writing style, though obviously not everyone does.