What are you trying to SAY? Not my kind of book. It would have been more interesting to actually hear a story about an event rather than her just trying to give you an idea for the feel of what was going on during that period. I am not interested in reading with a dictionary by my side just to hear her vague ideas about what people's frames of mind back then without ever actually saying anything. Maybe I'm just unsophisticated and it was over my head. She must have used a thesaurus for every word.
I don't know if she even understood what she was saying. Also a shout out is owed to the narrator whose inflections and tonal shifts were absolutely masterful. It reveals many mysteries and ideas, and also revels in the story's own absurdity.
If you love a good dose of sarcasm, well written history, and a fascinating story, this book is worthy of a listen. What she brilliant does do is disallows these predispositions to interfere with the truth and she grants at least understanding to those individuals. She does not indulge the court or the people of Salem in their mischief. Though we are not sure which side she's on. Sometimes history must take a side, and Schiff does that. Again, an magnificent talent at work to transform the often frustratingly obtuse words of Puritans into high drama. All of this, while making Puritan writing exceptionally readable and enjoyable. Her footnotes brilliantly elucidate the text further and create comparisons to our culture through interjections of contemporary statements and cultural ideas. She returns to the witch trials of Salem both their cultural magic and their realism, a balance that's hard to conjure when so many others have failed at such a task. Her book, Witches, is replete with not only horror at the events, but also a sense of wit and humor amongst the gravitas of the situation.
It is a true talent to make history exciting. Being in the field of history (especially in my field of art history) can mean a endless parade of wooden and tedious books, papers, and essays.
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