An account of the Springfield witch-hunts in 17th-century colonial America, drawing on previously undiscovered research. Paperback edition.
 
Malcolm Gaskill, a leading historian of witchcraft, retells the true story of witch-hunting in a remote part of Massachusetts in seventeenth-century colonial America. Following a series of inexplicable occurrences, the town of Springfield in 1651 is torn apart by suspicions, distrust and accusations of witchcraft, centered around a young couple, Hugh and Mary Parsons. While drawing on fresh research and previously undiscovered sources, this is not a dry scholarly account but a well-written narrative that brings the historical evidence to life, and offers vivid insight for the modern reader into what the early modern witch-hunts might have been like through the eyes of those at the centre of the storm.
 
London: Allen Lane, 2022. Paperback, 336 pages. New.