Books by "John Howard Morse"
2 books found
In the first edition of the Bancroft Prize-winning Entertaining Satan, John Putnam Demos presented an entirely new perspective on American witchcraft. By investigating the surviving historical documents of over a hundred actual witchcraft cases, he vividly recreated the world of New England during the witchcraft trials and brought to light fascinating information on the role of witchcraft in early American culture. Now Demos has revisited his original work and updated it to illustrate why these early Americans' strange views on witchcraft still matter to us today. He provides a new preface that puts forth a broader overview of witchcraft and looks at its place around the world--from ancient times right up to the present.
"The objects of the present book are, in the first place, to reprint the material portions of the book commonly called the "Bloody Assizes," of which Macaulay and many lesser writers have made such copious and uncritical use. For this purpose the original and various editions of the book have been examined and the career of its principal author, John Tutchin, and his friends described in detail. The Western Circuit of September, 1685, has been described from manuscripts, newsletters, and other documents, either unknown or which have not hitherto received consideration."