The devil in the shape of a woman : witchcraft in colonial New England / Carol F. Karlsen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Karlsen, Carol F., 1940- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Witchcraft--New England.

Witchcraft.

Witchcraft--Social aspects--New England.

Witchcraft--New England--History--17th century.

Physical Description:

xvii, 370 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Norton, 1998.

Summary:

"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. In 1662, Ann Cole was "taken with very strange Fits" and fueled an outbreak of witchcraft accusations in Hartford a generation before the notorious events in Salem took place. More than three hundred years later the question still haunts us: Why were these and other women likely witches? Why were they vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft? In this work Carol Karlsen reveals the social construction of witchcraft in seventeenth-century New England and illuminates the larger contours of gender relations in that society." -- Back Cover

Contents:

Preface

1: New England's witchcraft beliefs

2: Demographic basis of witchcraft

3: Economic basis of witchcraft

4: Handmaidens of the devil

5: Handmaidens of the lord

6: New England's well-ordered society

7: Brands plucked out of the burning

Epilogue

Afterword to the Norton paperback edition

Appendix: List of accused witches

Notes

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (273-352) and index.

ISBN:

0393317595

9780393317596

OCLC:

39167442