Scholars and artists examine fourteen generations of people associated with the Massachusetts town best known for burning witches, findings clues to patterns and variations of the human condition, and people's relationships with specific places. It can serve as an alternative guidebook for tourists, and as a textbook for a course in American Studies. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
A superb collection of essays on Salem's rich history and cultural life over the past four centuries.
How is a sense of place created, imagined, and reinterpreted over time? That is the intriguing question addressed in this comprehensive look at the 400-year history of Salem, Massachusetts, and the experiences of fourteen generations of people who lived in a place mythologized in the public imagination by the horrific witch trials and executions of 1692 and 1693.
But from its settlement in 1626 to the present, Salem was, and is, much more than this. In this volume, contributors from a variety of fields examine Salem's multiple urban identities: frontier outpost of European civilization, cosmopolitan seaport, gateway to the Far East, refuge for religious diversity, center for education, and of course, "Witch City" tourist attraction.
