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The Witches
- Salem, 1692: A History
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss
- Length: 18 hrs and 15 mins
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The Witches
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Summary
It began in 1692, over an exceptionally raw Massachusetts winter, when a minister's daughter started to scream and convulse. It ended less than a year later, but not before 19 men and women had been hanged and an elderly man crushed to death. The panic spread quickly, involving the most educated men and prominent politicians in the colony. Neighbours accused neighbours, parents accused children, husbands accused wives, children accused their parents, and siblings each other.
Vividly capturing the dark, unsettled atmosphere of 17th-century America, Stacy Schiff's magisterial history draws us into this anxious time. She shows us how a band of adolescent girls brought the nascent colony to its knees and how quickly the epidemic of accusations, trials, and executions span out of control. Above all, Schiff's astonishing research reveals details and complexity that few other historians have seen.
Every detail of colonial life just decades after the first landing - family, farming, praying, housekeeping, dangers of life at wilderness's edge, estrangement from England, the pressures of a life dominated by Biblical thought - is rendered with a clarity that makes almost inconceivable events comprehensible. As psychologically thrilling as it is historically seminal, as magnificently written as it is deeply researched, The Witches breathes new life into one of history's most enduring mysteries.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
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What listeners say about The Witches
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ashleigh E. Jackson
- 02-03-24
Great overview and lots of detail
Persevere through the middle section where the detail is most dense, I almost gave up at one point during the painstaking descriptions of the numerous trials but it’s needed for full context and definitely worth it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Alistair Fairweather
- 14-04-23
Gripping, fascinating, wickedly funny
Schiff weaves the hundreds of fine threads that are the remaining historical record into a coherent and absorbing narrative. Foss has the perfect voice for this book and her delivery is flawless. Excellent all round.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- A.
- 01-10-23
Very well researched
An in-depth research into the Salem trials and their aftermath. Very well researched with lots of data.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Lori
- 12-08-19
Fascinating!
Really interesting, at times confusing because of the jumps in time but so much happens and I was listening to it on journeys to work so 40 minutes at a time. It's a fantastic account of what truly went on and it's also sad to hear how many families were destroyed by this. Am really glad I know what happened and the true history of the Salem Witches.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Bjayzl
- 27-04-22
A witch’s brew
A very deeply researched book with a fitting narrator, the most comprehensive book on Salem I’ve yet to read
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- NormaCenva
- 30-08-16
Depressing but really good!
This is not an easy read at all, but if you have time and are not easily upset, try reading this book. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. Plus, the AudioBook version is great presentation in itself, and has some extra material added. This is a study of an endurance known to most people as a historical fact. It is done with diligence and attention. In the end, it is not only educational but both emotional and thought provoking.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 27-03-17
Thorough and compelling, if somewhat meandering
For a single-volume history of the Salem witch trials, you probably couldn't pick a better book. Thoroughly researched and soberly presented, Schiff manages to explore what feels like all angles at work, including of course how the trials effected and were affected by the place of women and other powerless groups in this strange and unsettling society. And yet, in true academic fashion, she never explicitly endorses any single interpretation of the events (apart from the obvious, that witches aren't real). I found this a very satisfying book.
However, whereas a straight academic work would probably opt for a purely chronological order, Schiff adopts a more rhetorical structure, which can be bamboozling in audio format, though it probably makes for compelling reading. So keep your wits about you as you listen.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Grandi
- 24-09-16
One of America's maddest and saddest moments
Where does The Witches rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
The Witches is a factual account of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. It describes the backgrounds of the girls and men and women who made the accusations, and also of the accused. A riveting story of how the constraints of puritan society, politics, and contempt for outsiders ripped a community apart.
Who was your favorite character and why?
I didn't really have a favourite character - there were people who I felt deeply sorry for, particular the first group of women who were taken to the scaffold.
What does Eliza Foss bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
I'm not sure where her accent is from but it matched the account very well. Although it was a factual description, her telling made it more of a story. She brought the characters to life.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Firstly when the women were taken to be hanged. Later there was a very sad description of a pastor who was crushed to death. Both moved me to tears.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 07-01-19
Brilliant
Loved it. Listened to while at work, a brilliant listen. Anyone interested in the time period this is a must
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Francis
- 12-04-21
Fascinating.
Fascinating read. Excellent detail. The author goes through many different elements which contributed to this awfully sad affair. A grave warning about the dangers of religions, superstition, envy, and the bitterness and suspicion of joy which lurks in many human hearts still today.
History told with a human face. Recommended.
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