The Devil in the Shape of a Woman

The Devil in the Shape of a Woman Witchcraft in Colonial New England

Paperback (19 Aug 1998)

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Publisher's Synopsis

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.

Book information

ISBN: 9780393317596
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Imprint: W.W. Norton and Company
Pub date:
Language: English
Number of pages: 370
Weight: 308g
Height: 142mm
Width: 209mm
Spine width: 26mm