Analysis Of Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt Of 1692

Godbeer, Richard. Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.

While most people are familiar with the notorious Salem Witch Trials in 1692, many people are unaware that similar events were taking place in other parts of New England in the very same year. The book, Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692, takes readers through an intriguing narrative of a young girl with claims of being bewitched. Although I was concerned at first about the book being in a narrative style, the author was very concise and used actual evidence from the trial to tell an accurate and interesting story. Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692 is about a witch trial that took place in Stamford, Connecticut in 1692; the same year as the Salem Witch Trials, which are considered to be quite a dark topic of early history in America. While obviously there were some similarities between the two cases, the way in which the trials were handled differ greatly. Godbeer takes the reader through a well written narrative of Kate Branch, a seventeen year old girl, who made claims and accusations of being bewitched. The majority of the book is
In the “afterword” portion of the book, he further explains his claims and arguments, but during the rest of the book, he lets the narrative speak for itself. Godbeer takes the reader into the life of a resident in Stamford, Connecticut. By doing this, the reader is able to see the opinions and the stances that many of the other residents took. Today, we often view the people of early New England as being extremely superstitious with many mythical beliefs, but after reading Godbeer’s Escaping Salem, it is apparent that this assumption may not be completely true for all colonists in early New England, as many of the townsfolk in Stamford, Connecticut were very skeptical and doubtful of the claims of