An Amazon Best Book of November 2015: In 1692, at the edge of the New England wilderness, an entire village went insane. Everyone knows the story: The pre-teen daughters of the local minister are mysteriously overcome by convulsions, their uncontrollable screaming sending the superstitious community into fear and confusion. Lacking other explanations--adolescent rebellion, maybe?--Satanic influence is suspected, and accusations of witchcraft soon fly like enchanted broomsticks. The town is pitted against itself, and by the time the hysteria fades, 19 men and women are hanged, another pressed to death.

But what actually happened? Pulitzer Prize-winner Stacy Schiff's The Witches: Salem, 1692 steps back from more than three centuries of hyperbole and supposition, giving us our most complete account yet. It can't have been easy: As Schiff points out early in the book, the Puritans of Salem village were often assiduous diarists and record-keepers, but first-hand accounts of the months of the hysteria are mysteriously rare-and those that exist are mainly unreliable. To construct her history, Schiff went through the looking glass, compiling seemingly every fact available to create a historically accurate narrative of events while placing it within the cultural context of 17th century New England. The results are obvious: this book is dense with facts and a large cast of characters, and readers must commit. But Schiff keeps the proceedings rolling with wry humor and an eye for the peculiar-yet-illuminating detail. This isn't The Crucible or Blair Witch; it's light on sensationalism, but rife with real-life toil-and-trouble. The truth, as always, is strange enough.--Jon Foro

This brilliant, compelling book...is dramatic history and also a timeless thriller.

Schiff's account is better written than any I have encountered...[A] brilliantly assured narrative.

Stacy Schiff has beautifully combined remarkable story telling with historical accuracy and insight. She has opened up important new avenues for Salem scholarship.

Fantastic.

Schiff's books are based on serious scholarly research, yet they're conveyed in bright, accessible prose.

Riveting nonfiction...Schiff is a masterful researcher, and the fact that she is able to conjure this world vividly enough to induce goose bumps is impressive.

The Witches brings a fresh eye to the worst misogynist atrocity in American history.

Compulsively readable...A fascinating account of one of the most infamous years in American history.

[Schiff's] fascinating new book is an almost day-by-day chronology of the nine months of accusations, trials, and executions that continue to fascinate and perplex us. Offering both meticulous research and intriguing analysis.

Author Schiff seeks to portray the historical figures involved in the Salem witch trials as the real people they were. Narrator Eliza Foss makes them come alive for the listener. Foss resists the urge to cackle or to sound incredulous during this objective examination of the so-called witches. While her voice suits the tone of the work, her reading is not dry. She modulates her intonations nicely, making listening easier on the ear and saving the long passages of historical and religious background from becoming tedious.

An indelibly etched morality fable, the best recounting of the Salem hysteria in modern times.

Few writers combine as she does superb scholarship and an exceptional gift for language with amazing reach and agility of mind. This is a superb book.

Recreates the most chill-inducing, finger-pointing months in American history.