Witches. Salem, 1692

This story began in the state of Massachusetts during the unusually harsh winter of 1692, when the daughter of a local priest suddenly started screaming and convulsing. A year later, when it was all over, 19 men and women were dead. The calm Puritan colony turned into a scene where truly horrifying events unfolded. The Salem witch hunt is the last echo of the Middle Ages in the emerging new era, a unique historical event that has inspired many movies and novels, and undoubtedly the most famous witch trial in the world. It involved both ordinary citizens and prominent politicians of New England: no one was spared - even the priest did not escape the gallows. Everyone turned against each other: neighbors accused neighbors, parents accused each other's children. What was this - a vestige of medieval persecutions that plunged the whole town into mass hysteria? Stacy Schiff, an outstanding historian and brilliant storyteller, Pulitzer Prize winner, lifts the veil of secrets that have shrouded Salem for centuries. For the first time, the situation that unfolded in Massachusetts at the end of the 17th century is explored so deeply and thoroughly, and the witch trials are recreated so fully and psychologically accurately. In Schiff's talented narrative, the events in Salem unfold before the reader as a true detective investigation, equally important for science and captivating for a wide range of readers.