During the bleak winter of 1692 in the rigid Puritan community of Salem Village, Massachusetts, a group of young girls began experiencing violent fits, allegedly tormented by Satan and the witches who worshipped him. From the girls' initial denouncing of an Indian slave, the accusations soon multiplied. In less than two years, nineteen men and women were hanged, one was pressed to death, and over a hundred others were imprisoned and impoverished. This evenhanded and now-classic history illuminates the horrifying episode with visceral clarity, from the opportunistic Putnam clan, who fanned the crisis to satisfy personal vendettas and greed, to four-year-old "witch" Dorcas Good, who was chained to a dank prison wall in darkness till she went mad. By placing the distant period of the Salem witch trials in the larger context of more contemporary eruptions of mass hysteria and intolerance, the author has created a work as thought-provoking as it is emotionally powerful.

A Delusion of Satan

History

Hill, Frances

Americas

Penguin

During the bleak winter of 1691 in the rigid Puritan community of Salem Village, Massachusetts, a group of young girls began experiencing violent fits, allegedly tormented by Satan and the witches who worshipped him. From the girls' initial denouncing of a black slave, their accusations soon multiplied; in less than two years nineteen men and women were hanged, one was pressed to death, and over a hundred others were imprisoned and impoverished.This evenhanded and insightful history illuminates this horrifying episode with visceral clarity, from the opportunistic Putnam clan, who fanned the crisis to satisfy personal vendettas and greed, to four-year-old "witch" Dorcas Good, chained to a dank prison wall in darkness till she went mad. By placing the distant period of the Salem witch trials in the larger context of more contemporary eruptions of mass hysteria and intolerance, the author has created a work as thought-provoking as it is emotionally powerful.

A Delusion Of Satan

Da Capo Press

Against the backdrop of a Puritan theocracy threatened by change, in a population terrified not only of eternal damnation but of the earthly dangers of Indian massacres and recurrent smallpox epidemics, a small group of girls denounces a black slave and others as worshipers of Satan. Within two years, twenty men and women are hanged or pressed to death and over a hundred others imprisoned and impoverished. In The Salem Witch Trials Reader, Frances Hill provides and astutely comments upon the actual documents from the trial--examinations of suspected witches, eyewitness accounts of "Satanic influence," as well as the testimony of those who retained their reason and defied the madness. Always drawing on firsthand documents, she illustrates the historical background to the witchhunt and shows how the trials have been represented, and sometimes distorted, by historians--and how they have fired the imaginations of poets, playwrights, and novelists. For those fascinated by the Salem witch trials, this is compelling reading and the sourcebook.

The Salem Witch Trials Reader

This compelling study of the horrific Salem Witch Trials--the first of its kind in over forty-five years--draws strength from new psychological insights into the roots of the hysteria that spurred the witch hunts of the late 1600s, and links them to the contemporary "witch hunts" of the twentieth century. For more than three hundred years, the hysteria that gripped Massachusetts during the Salem witch trials of the late 1600s has fascinated readers worldwide. Now acclaimed British writer Frances Hill has applied contemporary psychology to the Salem phenomenon and come up with startling results. Why were nearly all of the "afflicted" people women? What kind of mentality did the Puritans possess to place a four-year-old child in prison? What were the politics behind the witch hunts and trials, and what similarities exist in the witch hunts of the twentieth century (for example, the "witch hunts" of the McCarthy era)? In A Delusion Of Satan, Frances Hill answers these questions and many more in a conversational and frighteningly realistic narrative as she maps out details of the witch trials and subsequent hangings-information never revealed before. Discipline, morality, and intellectual rigor-these are all attributes that Puritanism bequeathed to the New World. Unfortunately, along with them came a tendency to regard an enemy as beneath empathy and deserving destruction. A Delusion Of Satan reminds the reader that these impulses, lurking in all people, can only be countered by constant reminders of common humanity.

DOUBLEDAY

Out of Bounds

Literature & Fiction

John Murray Publishers, Ltd.

This work focuses on the neglected subject of the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education and training. The book covers the areas of: entrepreneurship and economic development; entrepreneurship theories (traditional and alternative); entrepreneurship education and training programmes; a comparative European analysis of entrepreneurship programmes; a profile of the aspiring entrepreneur; assessing effectiveness; and a framework for the design and development of entrepreneurship training programmes. Readers should gain a significant insight into the effectiveness of entrepreneurship training programmes from both the programme providers' and participants' point of view. Key features of the book include: an up-to-date review of the literature in this field; a comparative analysis of entrepreneurship programmes with a European perspective; an in-depth treatment of the effectiveness issue both on a qualitative and quantitative basis, and a longitudinal study involving a control and comparator group. The study offers a research-based framework which should not only aid designers and providers of entrepreneurship training programmes, but should also improve the effectiveness of such programmes. The framework proposed by the authors should, with appropriate adaptation, be applicable on a European scale.

Entrepreneurship Education and Training

Business & Money

Henry, Colette

Leitch, Claire

Economics

Ashgate Pub Ltd

A reassuring look at the cycles of life. "When I found a dead ladybug one day, my sister, Wilma, buried it for me. She painted a rock to use as a tombstone." It doesn't take much to start a bug cemetery-a dead ladybug or inchworm, a pitcher of lemonade, and a few tears for a show of proper respect. But when a beloved pet suddenly dies, funerals are no longer any fun. A bug is one thing, but how do you mourn a special friend? With warmth and sensitivity, this subtle picture book explores the difficult emotions associated with losing a loved one.

The Bug Cemetery

Children's Books

Animals

Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

Let's get this party started! This cheeky little book features fifty games for twosomes, threesomes, foursomes, and, yes, more. Taking tried and true classics and tweaking the rules to make them a little more naughty and a lot more fun, Get This Party Started! aims to tease with such winning crowd-pleasers as Five Card Strip, Titty Winks, and Sexy Charades plus a host of 100% original games such as Frisk!, Hot Seat, or Ride My Pony. Each saucy game is paired with step-by-step directions, icons indicating the level of naughtiness, and a list of props needed to play. And not to worrythere's something here for everyone. Broken down into chapters by steam quotient, Get This Party Started! features fun for both nervous Nellies and goodtime Charlies. Here is proof (as if proof were needed) that it doesn't matter whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game.

Get This Party Started!

Humor & Entertainment

Puzzles & Games

Chronicle Books+

A BookSense Pick, this well-researched book by a respected historian has managed to stand out among the many political books released in 2004, and unlike many of them,remains current for the foreseeable future.Most Americans would like to think that our modern-day leaders are more enlightened than the witch-hunting Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. But are they? Is it possible that people like Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, and even George W. Bush are just the modern-day equivalents of Cotton Mather, John Hathorne, and William Phips? Frances Hill finds a frightening resemblance, and hopes that by remembering the past we can avoid repeating it.The events are, of course, very different. The Puritans twisted a popular fear of imaginary spectral forces to bolster their ideological agendas, power and wealth. Today's neoconservatives are twisting the very real public fear of terrorism for those same ends.We know how the story of the witch hunts ends. The modern equivalent is still under way, with far more chilling ramifications for the future of humanity.

Such Men are Dangerous: The Fanatics of 1692 and 2004

Upper Access, Inc.

Deliverance from Evil brings to life the Salem witch trials, one of the most uncanny times in our nation's history. Young girls in trances pointed out neighbors, leaders, relatives--over 150 people were arrested, with many hanged for their supposed sins. Frances Hill, author of A Delusion of Satan, brings her deep historical and political understanding together with her honed skills as a novelist to produce a picture of the trials both realistic and emotional. She has written an extraordinary and gripping novel of hysteria, power plays, and love in colonial America.

Deliverance From Evil: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials

Contemporary

The Overlook Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hill, Frances. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Hill, Frances

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hill, Frances. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A Delusion of Satan

A Delusion Of Satan

The Salem Witch Trials Reader

A Delusion of Satan

Out of Bounds

Entrepreneurship Education and Training

The Bug Cemetery

Get This Party Started!

Such Men are Dangerous: The Fanatics of 1692 and 2004

Deliverance From Evil: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials