In The Devil's Snare

Ms. Norton talked about her book, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692, published by Alfred A. Knopf. The book is a re-examination of the 17th-century events that resulted in 144 people, including 38 men, being accused of witchcraft. Twenty of the accused were put to death. Using newly available materials from trial records, letters, and diaries, Ms. Norton argues that the situation had less to do with sorcery than with the atmosphere of paranoia and fear in the colonies caused by the losses from the first and second Indian wars. The Puritans believed that the defeats were God’s way of punishing the colonists for their sins. Ms. Norton answered questions after her presentation. close