Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England

by John Putnam Demos

Overview

In the first edition of the Bancroft Prize-winning Entertaining Satan, John Putnam Demos presented an entirely new perspective on American witchcraft. By investigating the surviving historical documents of over a hundred actual witchcraft cases, he vividly recreated the world of New England during the witchcraft trials and brought to light fascinating information on the role of witchcraft in early American culture. Now Demos has revisited his original work and updated it to illustrate why these early Americans' strange views on witchcraft still matter to us today. He provides a new preface that puts forth a broader overview of witchcraft and looks at its place around the world--from ancient times right up to the present.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199726318
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/18/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

John Putnam Demos is Samuel Knight Professor of History at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He is the author of A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony and The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America.

Editorial Reviews

"Demos has done an excellent job of researching a subject of great interest today."—William C. Viser, Ouachita Baptist University

"With the publication of this book, the historical study of American witchcraft finally comes of age."—American Historical Review

"A work that sets the stage for the eruption in Salem and promises to transform the terms in which we understand that extravagant episode....A rewarding and fascinating achievement well worth reading."—American History Illustrated

"Beautifully written and exhaustively researched."—Virginia Quarterly Review

"Well written and easy to read....More than a history of witchcraft. It is placed within the wider social context and is thus a history of early New England culture....Very well documented."—History: Reviews of New Books

From the Publisher