The Witchcraft of Salem Village (Landmark Books) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

This book introduces young readers to a fascinating and complex incident in American history, and does so with clarity, accuracy, and very good writing. It is suitable for middle readers, but I've also recommended this book to middle and high school students, as it provides the best concise introduction to the topic that I've yet come across. If you've got a term paper looming, start with this book.

Each review has a context -- the background and personal bias of the reviewer. I'm a former history teacher, now a full time writer, and the Salem incident has fascinated me since childhood. Social history, especially the history of witchcraft and witchcraft accusations, is a particular interest. I have a library of several dozen books on the topic, and have read many more. The focus and clarity of this book made it stand out, even against this extensive background. The straightforward storytelling and lack of speculation and moralizing are refreshing, and a fine antidote to ponderous tomes. Historians often forget that storytelling lies at the heart of history; Ms. Jackson has not. Even if your interest is scholarly and you intend to delve into more detail, this book is well worth reading.

I recommend this book to a wide spectrum of readers. Middle readers will be able to absorb the story. Students looking for an overview will find this provides an excellent foundation. For teachers, librarians and parents seeking good nonfiction, this book is far superior to any other young reader treatment I've seen. History teachers who want to cover the subject and need a refresher on the facts -- and a lesson in style -- will find this book useful. In fact, persons of any age and education with an interest in this subject are likely to find this book worthwhile.

There were two reasons for my interest in this book; one is the fascinating issue of the Salem Witchcraft trials, a subject that has intrigued me for years (I first encountered this topic while reading articles dealing with matters of child testimony in court and children eyewitness in general) and the second is the writer, Shirley Jackson, whose work I try to read in full.

It is no wonder Shirley Jackson has chosen to write about this chapter in American history. Shirley Jackson, as her biography notes, was interested not only in witchcraft and the supernatural, but more in the power of the community, especially a small one, on an individual person. Jackson experienced this power as an evil force and she describes it as such in her work (a good example would be the book "We have always lived in the castle"). Several efforts were made to link Jackson's personal life with her work. After reading much of her work and biography one realizes how she must have sympathized with the accused in the Salem Witchcraft Trials, as a person who was also an outcast or a "strange" member of the community. It seems that the issue of the Salem Witchcraft Trials was more then just an historical chapter for Shirley Jackson.

But beyond the author herself, this is a description of a dead end situation for those wrongly accused of witchcraft and nothing they may possibly do could prove them innocent. Jackson does well in her effort to describe the political and religious atmosphere of the time before getting to the story itself. This is the horrible tale of a group of girls, who in their fear for themselves wrongly accuse other people in witchcraft. One event leads to another and pretty soon they are many steps beyond return. The atmosphere of the time enabled such misdeeds to happen.

As the book is intended for kids, the language and terminology are rather simple, yet Jackson manages to be clear and precise and does not let her thoughts and feelings (which we can only imagine) evade the writing. Even though Jackson describes the wrongdoings she does not dwell on the suffering of the accused when blamed, in prison, or the after come of the hanging itself. Jackson tries to stick to the historical details and facts and gives an objective description of the events themselves. However, Jackson does not wish to leave her historical story to mere facts, as facts are rather scarce in this case. The author tries to supply reasons and semi-explanations as to how something as terrible as this could have happened. Besides the court summaries, names and details of living people there are no real facts to hang on to, and what could be the facts in this case? The mere facts were only the tales and actions of the "Afflicted children" and the atmosphere in the country during the time of the Salem trials.

I found the book very clear and interesting although as an adult I feel I would like to further dwell into this issue. This is a good job of describing the episode to children ( I believe the readers age should be above the age of 10-11 and definitely not ages 4-8 as recommended in the product description!) with an effort to remain as neutral as possible, as much as can be done in such a story.

This book is very hard to get through. There is a lot of great information but I tend to dislike books where the author can not keep their personal opinion out of it. Page after page the author puts in their input. One of the wonderful things about reading is that the person reading can come to their own conclusion. This book comes across like television....allows for very little of your own interpretation. Also, I find that if your a Christian you may be easily offended by what comes across as attacks on (any) type of religion. When this book came I was so excited to read it but found after a short time it was very preachy. Some may really like this book. It had great potential because the content in general is extremely interesting.