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Loading... Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England (edition 1989)by Carol F. Karlsen
Work InformationThe Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England by Carol F. Karlsen
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Carol Karlsen's 1987 book The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England provides a sort of demographic, sociological, and anthropological examination of the witchcraft trends in early New England. By examining the records, Karlsen has created what she suggests was the archetypal 'witch' based on income, age, marital status, &c. She argues in part that women who had inherited or stood to inherit fairly large amounts of property or land were at particular risk, as they "stood in the way of the orderly transmission of property from one generation of males to the next" (p. 116). These women (and others), Karlsen suggests, were targeted largely because they refused to accept "their place" in colonial society. How their actions translated into being accused of witchcraft by - usually - other females is left unexamined for the most part, unfortunately. This is a fairly useful study into some of the various elements of the witchcraft cases. I don't find Karlsen's arguments as compelling as those made more recently by Mary Beth Norton, for example, but this is hardly a bad book just for that reason. Recommended for those interested in the witchcraft phenonmenon. http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2007/03/book-review-devil-in-shape-of-woman.html no reviews | add a review
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. The case of Ann Cole, who was "taken with very strange Fits," fueled an outbreak of witchcraft accusations in Hartford a generation before the notorious events at Salem. More than three hundred years later, the question "Why?" still haunts us. Why were these and other women likely witches--vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft and possession? Carol F. Karlsen reveals the social construction of witchcraft in seventeenth-century New England and illuminates the larger contours of gender relations in that society. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)133.4Philosophy and Psychology Parapsychology And Occultism Specific Topics Witchcraft - SorceryLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Anyone who is studying the witchcraft trials during this time, or just want to learn more about it (without all the drama) shoudl definitely pick up this book. It was written in 1987 but is still relevant and worth the read. ( )