Death in Salem

The Private Lives Behind the 1692 Witch Hunt

By: Diane Foulds

Narrated by: Betty Miller

Salem witchcraft will always have a magnetic pull on the American psyche. During the 1692 witch trials, more than 150 people were arrested. An estimated 25 million Americans—including author Diane Foulds—are descended from the twenty individuals executed. What happened to our ancestors? Death in Salem is the first book to take a clear-eyed look at this complex time, by examining the lives of the witch trial participants from a personal perspective.

Massachusetts settlers led difficult lives; every player in the Salem drama endured hardships barely imaginable today. Mercy Short, one of the “bewitched” girls, watched as Indians butchered her parents; Puritan minister Cotton Mather outlived all but three of his fifteen children. Such tragedies shaped behavior and, as Foulds argues, ultimately played a part in the witch hunt’s outcome. A compelling “who’s who” to Salem witchcraft, Death in Salem profiles each of these historical personalities as it asks: Why was this person targeted?

©2023 Diane Foulds (P)2023 Rowman & Littlefield

First book I ever wanted to return

Narrator tone had no reflection and no punctuation in her reading. Book itself made a difficult listen to follow events and people.

Narration is computer generated

The narrator is computer generated and not an actual human making it awful to listen to and hard to follow! I’m so angry I wasted an audible credit on this!

Narrator

the narration is AWFUL. Sounds like Siri is reading the book. Read it don't listen.