The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World -- Malcolm Gaskill, Hardcover

A gripping story of a family tragedy brought about by witch-hunting in Puritan New England that combines history, anthropology, sociology, politics, theology and psychology.

In Springfield, Massachusetts in 1651, peculiar things begin to happen. Precious food spoils, livestock ails, property vanishes, and people suffer convulsions as if possessed by demons. A woman is seen wading through the swamp like a lost soul. Disturbing dreams and visions proliferate. Children sicken and die. As tensions rise, rumours spread of witches and heretics and the community becomes tangled in a web of distrust, resentment and denunciation. The finger of suspicion soon falls on a young couple with two small children: the prickly brickmaker, Hugh Parsons, and his troubled wife, Mary.

Drawing on rich, previously unexplored source material, Malcolm Gaskill vividly evokes a strange past, one where lives were steeped in the divine and the diabolic, in omens, curses and enchantments. The Ruin of All Witches captures an entire society caught in agonized transition between superstition and enlightenment, tradition and innovation.


Author: Malcolm Gaskill
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Published: 11/01/2022
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.30w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9780593316573

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 08/01/2022
Library Journal 09/01/2022 pg. 150
Kirkus Reviews 10/01/2022
Booklist 10/01/2022 pg. 3