A Delusion of Satan, Frances Hill
A Delusion of Satan, Frances Hill
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A Delusion of Satan
The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials

Author: Frances Hill

Narrator: Wanda McCaddon

Unabridged: 9 hr 59 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 07/09/2014

Synopsis

During the bleak winter of 1692 in the rigid Puritan community of Salem Village, Massachusetts, a group of young girls began experiencing violent fits, allegedly tormented by Satan and the witches who worshipped him. From the girls' initial denouncing of an Indian slave, the accusations soon multiplied. In less than two years, nineteen men and women were hanged, one was pressed to death, and over a hundred others were imprisoned and impoverished.


This evenhanded and now-classic history illuminates the horrifying episode with visceral clarity, from the opportunistic Putnam clan, who fanned the crisis to satisfy personal vendettas and greed, to four-year-old "witch" Dorcas Good, who was chained to a dank prison wall in darkness till she went mad. By placing the distant period of the Salem witch trials in the larger context of more contemporary eruptions of mass hysteria and intolerance, the author has created a work as thought-provoking as it is emotionally powerful.

About Frances Hill

Frances Hill, an accomplished journalist and novelist, has written The Salem Witch Trials Reader and Deliverance from Evil. She lives in London but visits the United States regularly, spending every summer in Connecticut.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Pam on March 14, 2021

This book is subtitled the 'full story' and I had hoped for more, but it is a relatively slim volume. On the plus side, it is a good summary, with a chronology at the back, of the main events which led to the out-of-control witch hunt that consumed Massachusetts in 1692. That witch hunt led to hundr......more

Goodreads review by Nick on November 17, 2022

I bought this book while I was in Salem Mass. Love the town, not sold on this book. It was a very slow read, even by Non-Fiction standards. It was very informative, and I may try to re-read it as I don't remember a lot of the facts. UPDATE 11/17/22. SO I just finished re-reading this book. It was a m......more

Goodreads review by Kiera ☠ on October 21, 2024

I've always known about the Salem Witch Trials, just like most of the population. The on goings of that time have been sensationalized in media forever. However, I've never actually educated myself on the actual events that took place during that time. My bookclub chose this read for spooky month an......more

Goodreads review by Katherine on January 01, 2016

I recommend strongly that you skip the introduction by Karen Armstrong, which includes such unexamined sentences as: "What Frances Hill's book shows so clearly is that bad religion can be as destructive as the most virulent atheism.") As her subtitle shows, Hill is telling the story of the trials,......more

Goodreads review by Kara on May 24, 2008

Honestly, I am not one for Colonial America. I grew up in Boston, so I've had the Revolution crammed into me. However, I found this book extremely intriguing. It takes a very different approach to the Salem Witch Trials. We always see these trials as a "simple" witch hysteria, but it was so much mor......more

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