The Witches: Salem, 1692

I was pumped for this one. I think I ended up being only slightly disappointed in it because of all the hype.

Essentially, this is a straight up history, with tons of facts thrown at the reader that make it tough to follow. There is a reason Ms Schiff has a cast list in the beginning. And had I known then what I know now, I'd have consulted much more frequently.

Honestly, her prose gets a bit muddled at times, confusing, and multiple times it seems the reader is expected to keep various characters straight. And the Mathers men straight. Which is difficult when she'll be talking about both Increase and Cotton in any given paragraph, and then refer to them by last name only. Sometimes context does not help.

So, as far as information goes, and because I know precious little about the Salem witch trials, I enjoyed the learning, even though the prose gets a bit tedious and obtuse. I wish it had been a bit less of a fact vomit, though. It's as though the story, so to speak, got away from her. That being said, it was worth the read, and I know more than I did before, and that always makes me happy. And I've read far worse written history books.

Also, I'm from New England. Everyone seemed horrible, but I can sort of see how America has been very much informed by how the Puritans behaved. That's not reassuring, but younger generations seem to mostly be doing better, and that is.