The Devil in the Shape of a Woman Witchcraft in Colonial New England

Karlsen, Carol F.

ISBN 10: 0393024784 / ISBN 13: 9780393024784

Published by W W Norton & Company, New York, 1987

About this Item

Some shelf wear present on DJ and boards, DJ is sun-faded on spine, short tear base of spine. Small bump to bottom edge of front board. ; A tight solid book, dustjacket in Mylar, unclipped. ; 8.20 X 5.80 X 1.30 inches; 360 pages; "Confessing to "familiarity with the devils," Mary Johnson, a servant, was executed by Connecticut officials in 1648. A wealthy Boston widow, Ann Hibbens was hanged in 1656 for casting spells on her neighbors. The case of Ann Cole, who was "taken with very strange Fits," fueled an outbreak of witchcraft accusations in Hartford a generation before the notorious events at Salem. More than three hundred years later, the question "Why?" still haunts us. Why were these and other women likely witches vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft and possession? Carol F. Karlsen reveals the social construction of witchcraft in seventeenth-century New England and illuminates the larger contours of gender relations in that society.".

Seller Inventory # 18612

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Devil in the Shape of a Woman Witchcraft in Colonial New England
• Publisher: W W Norton & Company, New York
• Publication Date: 1987
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393024784
• ISBN 13: 9780393024784
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition; Fourth Printing.
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good-
• Seller catalogs:
  • History::USA

About this title

Synopsis

Analyzes the belief in witchcraft in colonial times, looks at the characteristics of those charged and their accusers, and discusses Puritan attitudess toward women

Reviews

Karlsen has written an intriguing social history of witchcraft in Puritan New England (1620-1725). She unearths detailed evidence which demonstrates that prosecuted and accused witches generally were older, married women who had violated the religious and/or economic Puritan social hierarchy. Beyond their childbearing years and sometimes the recipients of inheritances, these women threatened the male-dominated social order and drew the ire of middle-aged men who accused them of witchcraft. A well-written, provocative addition to the recent scholarship on New England witchcraft.David Szatmary, Univ. of Washington Extension, Seattle
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.