A Fever in Salem: A New Interpretation of the New England Witch Trials

by Laurie Winn Carlson

Book Overview

This new interpretation of the New England Witch Trials offers an innovative, well-grounded explanation of witchcraft's link to organic illness. While most historians have concentrated on the accused, Laurie Winn Carlson focuses on the afflicted. Systematically comparing the symptoms recorded in colonial diaries and court records to those of the encephalitis epidemic in the early twentieth century, she argues convincingly that the victims suffered...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566633095
• ISBN13: 9781566633093
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee Publisher
• Length: 197 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

I am an encephalitis survivor

Being a survivor I could definately understand what Laurie Winn Carlson was saying. I just more people could. Encephalitis is a strange illness, right, Laurie? Why did you even write this book? Are you a survivor? I run an email support group (if anyone is interested go to:

Comments from a survivor of encephalitis

I happened to appreciate the author's view of what witchcraft really may have been. As a survivor of encephalitis (HSE), I know first hand that your personality changes overnight (or, right after you wake up). Most doctors today can't diagnose encephalitis so I can just imagine what brain-damaged people must have been perceived as back then. Than you for opening others' eyes.

New way of seeing witchcraft

This book departs completely from ways of looking at Salem, such as "The Crucible," and other books I've read about witches. This is a plausible, even scary interpretation.

fascinating and innovative look at witchcraft

Winn Carlson has found the facts behind Salem's horror but others may not like that. The witchcraft "industry" is alive and well in academia, where people have embraced the girlish hysteria stuff for decades. Time to rid those poor girls of their Freudian explanations. Thanks to Winn Carlson, the women are no longer seen as acting out or trying to get attention. The bird migration routes seem logical, and match up with the recent epidemic of encephalitis in New York City. This book is a must for someone who wants to look at history in a new way. Who knows how many other historical events can be explained scientifically by disease?