Six Women of Salem

The Untold Story of the Accused and Their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials

By: Marilynne K. Roach

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Six Women of Salem is the first work to use the lives of a select number of representative women as a microcosm to illuminate the larger crisis of the Salem witch trials. By the end of the trials, beyond the 20 who were executed and the five who perished in prison, 207 individuals had been accused, 74 had been "afflicted", 32 had officially accused their fellow neighbors, and 255 ordinary people had been inexorably drawn into that ruinous and murderous vortex, and this doesn't include the religious, judicial, and governmental leaders. All this adds up to what the Rev. Cotton Mather called "a desolation of names".

The individuals involved are too often reduced to stock characters and stereotypes when accuracy is sacrificed to indignation. And although the flood of names and detail in the history of an extraordinary event like the Salem witch trials can swamp the individual lives involved, individuals still deserve to be remembered, and, in remembering specific lives, modern audiences can benefit from such historical intimacy. By examining the lives of six specific women, Marilynne Roach shows listeners what it was like to be present throughout this horrific time and how it was impossible to live through it unchanged.

©2013 Marilynne K. Roach (P)2014 Tantor

Well delivered- excellent content

The story of the Salem witch trials is a story of human frailty- the desire to side with the emotional over rational. Excellent book - superb narrative. Well worth the time.

history in story

really enjoyed listening and hearing the perspectives of those on trial. like you were there.

Excellent

Excellent and thoroughly researched account of the 1692 trials and aftermath. Fictional sections provide drama and supposition but mostly seem factual/possible.

Well researched

Narration was very well performed. Likely would not be as interesting to readers who are new to the Salem witches story.

Robotic Reader

Very factual & interesting, without a lot of political propaganda, (mild siding with American Indians over Whites in the war and needless mentioning that she is opposed to slavery -- of course! No need to emphasize that!) but marred by the Alexa-like reader. More feeling and a variety in tone is needed. She also reads V E R Y S L O W L Y. I dealt with this by increasing the playback speed.