Hannah Filippino’s Reviews > A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience > Status Update

“By the end of the witch hunt, most … were convinced that Satan had indeed visited their colony and had struck a severe blow. Only now they came to understand that Satan’s great work had been to delude them into thinking that many devout Puritans and good people were witches. The devil’s victory was in turning … colonists against each other, leading to needless death and prolonged suffering.” p285

“The witch trials also helped to banish the devil from New England. Ministers stopped talking about Satan the tempter roaming the earth in corporeal form and instead talked about how he waited in the horrible fires of hell for sinners.” p.212.

“Scholars have quite naturally made a strong link between women’s confessions and their place in Puritan society… [W]omen were all too regularly reminded… that they were susceptible to sin and the temptations of the devil… It is quite possible that, once accused of witchcraft, a devout woman may have looked inward and… viewed this as a sign that she was renouncing God and making a pact with Satan.” p157

“Witchcraft in Europe and America was tied to economic uncertainties of the early modern period. It is not a coincidence that the age of witch hunts also saw the birth and development of capitalism.” p. 119.