The True Story of Salem: Book 1-7

Puritan Testimony, Witchcraft Trials, and the Making of a Colonial American LegacyBy Charles Wentworth Upham, Increase Mather, Cotton Mather, James Thacher, M. V. B. Perley, William P. Upham, Samuel Roberts Wells

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The True Story of Salem: Book 1–7 gathers historical narrative, antiquarian inquiry, theological reflection, and documentary reconstruction around Salem's most enduringly contested legacy: the 1692 witchcraft crisis and its social afterlives. Its range—from firsthand-inflected colonial accounts to later historical syntheses—shows how Salem has been interpreted as religious tragedy, judicial failure, local history, and national moral lesson. The collection's juxtaposition of evidentiary detail with retrospective argument makes it especially valuable for tracing the changing meanings attached to accusation, belief, and memory. The contributing voices span Puritan New England and nineteenth-century historical culture. Increase and Cotton Mather represent the clerical and intellectual world nearest to the crisis, while later historians and local investigators, including Charles Wentworth Upham, James Thacher, M. V. B. Perley, William P. Upham, and Samuel Roberts Wells, revisit its records through developing practices of historical criticism and popular education. Together, they illuminate the transition from providential explanation to archival, civic, and reform-minded interpretation. This volume rewards readers seeking more than a single authoritative account of Salem. It offers an exceptional opportunity to compare genres, assumptions, and methods within one corpus, making it useful for students of American literature, religious history, legal culture, and collective memory. Its internal dialogue encourages careful reflection on how communities narrate trauma, assign responsibility, and preserve the past.

Witch Fiction Supernatural Folklore Psychological Crime Conspiracy Ghost Story Magic Gods & Mortals Political Intrigue Curses & Fate

Audiobook details

Rating★★★★ 4.1 (11)

Includes Amazon

GenreHistory, Literary Classics

Length57 hrs 9 mins

Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices

FormateBook with Audio

Publish dateNov 27, 2023

LanguageEnglish

1The Broken Font (Annotated)

2The True Story of Salem: Book 1-7

3Introduction

4The Author's Defence

5Enchantments Encountered

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6An Abstract of Mr. Perkins's Way for the Discovery of Witches

7A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World

8An Hortatory and Necessary Address, to a Country Now Extraordinarily Alarum'd by the Wrath of the Devil

9A Narrative of an Apparition which a Gentleman in Boston, had of His Brother, Just Then Murthered in London

10A Modern Instance of Witches, Discovered and Condemned in a Tryal, Before that Celebrated Judge, Sir Matthew Hale

11I. The Tryal of G. B. at a Court of Oyer and Terminer, Held in Salem, 1692

12II. The Tryal of Bridget Bishop, Alias Oliver, at the Court of Oyer and Terminer, Held at Salem, June 2. 1692

13III. The Tryal of Susanna Martin, at the Court of Oyer and Terminer, Held by Adjournment at Salem, June 29. 1692

14IV. The Tryal of Elizabeth How, at the Court of Oyer and Terminer, Held by Adjournment at Salem, June 30. 1692

15V. The Trial of Martha Carrier, at the Court of Oyer and Terminer, Held by Adjournment at Salem, August 2. 1692

16Matter Omitted in the Trials

17The Devil Discovered

18A Further Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches.

19A True Narrative of some Remarkable Passages relating to sundry Persons afflicted by Witchcraft at Salem Village in New-England, which happened from the 19th. of March to the 5th. of April, 1692.

20Remarks of things more than ordinary about the Afflicted Persons

21Remarks concerning the Accused

22A Further Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches, Sent in a Letter from Thence, to a Gentleman in London

23Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits Personating Men; Witchcrafts, Infallible Proofs of Guilt in such as are Accused with that Crime

24Christian Reader

25Cases of Conscience Concerning Witchcrafts

26Postscript

27Salem Witchcraft by Charles Wentworth Upham

28Preface

29Map and Illustrations

30Index to the Map

31Town of Salem