Salem Possessed: The Social Origins Book Review

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After three women were incarcerated for witchcraft, the perceived effects of their spells continued, as more and more people began to disengage from social norms. Similar events took place in other communities and by incarcerating suspects the community returned to normality. Yet, the Salem Village witchcraft did not stop and took a more dramatic turn. As the number of cases of "infected people" continued to rise, more and more women and even men, began to be arrested, trialed and executed. One of the factors that the authors discovered to be substantial in assessing the socio-economic causes of the trials lies in the geographic and social pattern of the accused. Most of the individuals accused and executed not only were not unknown to the accusers, but lived at opposite sides of the Village, and beyond. What the authors have gathered extensive records of the events that prove that accusations were not only falsely or incorrectly build, but also that they were used as weapons against the opposing members of the Porter family and their supporters.

The authors' analysis creates a new understanding of the 1692 witchcraft trials by offering solid and comprehensive data and personal examples of socio-economic causes.

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As the struggle for power and most of all identity in the village grew stronger, discussing the roots of the social problems was not an option. As a conservative community, the Putnam group decided, not very different that the general understanding, that strange behavior should be a cause of a supernatural process. One of the issues that the book doesn't address sufficiently is that this belief of the supernatural had its effects on the overall trials discussions. After reading the book, it does not seem enough to explain the causes by a complex process of power struggle between the two camps. Religious communities, like the Salem Village one, truly believed that removing from their communities people seen as doing witchcraft, would resolve their problem. Although directed in most occasions against the non-autonomy supporters, a valid point can be also found in the fact that the trials had a religious pattern as well. This, obviously, does not reduce the importance of this book in the overall analysis of such an event. It represents a solid contribution and it should be a model for future analysis of other events......

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