Emerson W. Baker

Thoroughly researched and well-written. Baker combines genealogy with detailed historical analysis to tell the most complete story of the outbreak of the Salem witch accusations and trials. His close attention to the location of people both physically and in family contexts with property disputes complements mastery of historical context - the trauma of ongoing war with the Wabanaki, the loss of the Massachusetts Bay Charter, disputes about moral reformation and returning to the original show more Puritan vision for the colony vs a general loosening of church discipline, the breakdown of the legal system as a result of the charter change, and the struggles of various players to maintain or better their status. Baker combines these masterfully. And he goes on to assess the aftermath -- how did this fractious society come back together painfully over the generations. My only criticism is that I sometimes found it very difficult -- despite Baker's attempts to make matters as easy as possible -- to follow the interrelationships of all the actors, and there is quite a cast. Altogether, however, an excellent read that I heartily recommend to anyone interested in the complex history of the Salem trials, and indeed, of New England colonial history. There is much meat here. show less

It's not often that Salem plays second fiddle in a book about New England witchcraft, but it does so in Emerson Baker's The Devil of Great Island (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). Baker concentrates on a 1682 incident on the Maine frontier in which the Walton family's house and members were subjected to a relentless and damaging assault by flying stones, a phenomenon called lithobolia. These events, Baker argues, allow for a broader perspective on the role of witchcraft accusations in northern New show more England, and serve to highlight the diverse and contentious nature of the region during the late seventeenth century.

Drawing on previous work by John Demos, Carol Karlsen and Mary Beth Norton - among others - Baker manages to weave the lithobolia incidents into our understanding of how witchcraft accusations came to be used as the ultimate trump card in disputes over property, power or pulpits. Although it takes him quite a long time to get to it, I think in the end Baker makes a solid case for his suggested culprit (the nephew of the woman the Waltons accused of launching the 'supernatural' assault).

The strongest elements of this book are Baker's synthesis of the scholarship connecting witchcraft allegations to other longstanding disputes over various important issues, and his comparison of the 1682 stone-throwing to the events at Salem a decade later. He offers much interesting background materials on the demographics of northern New England, the tangled histories of New Hampshire and Maine and other subjects; unfortunately the digressions he makes from the main narrative to delve into these larger areas prove rather distracting.

I had a few additional quibbles with Baker's writing style, which incorporates a bit too much slang or informalities for my taste. However, for those interested in understanding New England witchcraft from a broader angle and with a different focal point than Salem, this book and its predecessors are certainly recommended.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2007/12/book-review-devil-of-great-island.html show less

Jacket summary - A Fascinating Tale of Witchcraft in Colonial America. In The Devil of Great Island, Emerson W. Baker shows how fear and superstition overtook one town and spawned copycat incidents elsewhere in New England, prefiguring the horrors of Salem. He delves into Great Island's troubled history bringing to light the political intrigue, property disputes, and ethnic and religious tensions that allowed witchcraft hysteria to flourish. This lively account not only uncovers what really show more happened on Great Island, but also illuminates a cross-section of early American society and overturns many popular assumptions about witchcraft in the colonial era. show less

"....Baker shows how a range of factors in the Bay colony in the 1690s, including a new charter and government, a lethal frontier war, and religious and political conflicts, set the stage for the dramatic events in Salem. Engaging a range of perspectives, he looks at the key players in the outbreak--the accused witches and the people they allegedly bewitched, as well as the judges and government officials who prosecuted them--and wrestles with questions about why the Salem tragedy unfolded show more as it did, and why it has become an enduring legacy.
Salem in 1692 was a critical moment for the fading Puritan government of Massachusetts Bay, whose attempts to suppress the story of the trials and erase them from memory only fueled the popular imagination. Baker argues that the trials marked a turning point in colonial history from Puritan communalism to Yankee independence, from faith in collective conscience to skepticism toward moral governance. A brilliantly told tale, A Storm of Witchcraft also puts Salem's storm into its broader context as a part of the ongoing narrative of American history and the history of the Atlantic World."
-review from Goodreads show less