The Witches: Salem, 1692 is a meticulously researched and chronologically presented story of the famous Salem witch trials that held the town hostage for nearly a year. Schiff draws from all available notes, records and diaries available on the subject. Unfortunately, much of history was destroyed or lost over the years and the story we get is largely censored by either repentive participants or those unwilling to admit to any wrongdoing. 
 Living in 1692 New England was hard enough, but throw into that an invasive, superstitious Puritan society at odds with not only individuals in their own community, but with England's new charter and elected governor and the town is ripe for a catastrophe. As the "afflicted" begin to name names, more and more people are accused of witchcraft and no one is off-limits; faithful, rich, ministerial alike are accused. Eventually when all was said and done, 20 people were put to death. 
 The facts are no doubt hard to fathom and the story incredible, but this book did not read easily. For me, I think the problem was that 1.) The events were told in chronological order, which did not provide much narrative and read like an essay or textbook. The last few chapters were the most interesting to me because it gave light to possible motives and filled in blanks about individuals that weren't revealed previously. Had the author woven this in with the facts, it may have made for a less frustrating read. 2.) There was not much in the way of individual testimony and none from the accused or "afflicted" at all, except their writhings and accusations. This was not a fault of the author's, it just isn't information recorded or it was "lost" or destroyed over time. Still, it would have been fascinating to hear from them first hand. 
 I could not shake the images from the excellent movie, The Crucible, while reading this book, though that book was also taken directly from records of these trials. It goes without saying that there are many motives or reasons that could be attributed to what happened in Salem and I think a general consensus would be that it was not because witches had taken over the small town. I just wish it had been more interesting to read about here.