17th Century New England, with special emphasis on the Salem Witchcraft Trials

A 17th Century Colonial New England Bibliography

This is a sometimes-annotated bibliography of the books in my personal reference library as I research 17th century colonial New England. There are a lot about the Salem witch-hunt, Puritan thought, and Anglo-Indian contact, but also a few odds and ends that make sense to me to have on hand. Please note: I do not lend books. To anyone. Most of these titles can be borrowed from any good public or university library. If you want to purchase a copy of any of these titles, I have included direct links to Amazon.com for all but a handful of out-of-print or hard-to-find local imprint titles. To print out the whole bibliography, please use the printer-friendly version to save paper.

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Abbot | Axtell | Begiebing | Boyer | Breitwieser | Briggs | Carlson | Cronon | Demos | Earhart
Francis | Gildrie | Greven | Hall | Hill | Jackson | Kramer | Lockridge | Mather | Miller
Nevins | Powell | Robinson | Rowlandson | Sewall | Starkey | Thompson | VanDerBeets | Weisman | Winslow

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  1. Begiebing, Robert J.. The Strange Death of Mistress Coffin. Algonquin Books: Chapel Hill, NC. 1996. Order from Amazon.com

    This is a mystery story, based on an actual unsolved murder from 17th century New England.
  2. Berkin, Carol. First Generations: Women in Colonial America. Farrar: New York. 1996. Order from Amazon.com

  3. Bond, C. Lawrence. Native Names of New England Towns and Villages: Translating 199 Names Derived from Native American Words. Second edition. Bond: Reading, MA. 1993. Order from Amazon.com

    The third edition (2000) apparently has 211 place names translated
  4. Bouchard, Betty J.. Our Silent Neighbors: A Study of Gravestones in the Old Salem Area. Second edition, revised and expanded. T.B.S. Enterprises: Salem, MA. 2000. Order from Amazon.com

  5. Bourne, Russell. The Red King's Rebellion: Racial Politics in New England 1675-1678. Oxford University Press: New York. 1990. Order from Amazon.com

    A rather plodding account of the politics and battles of King Philip's War.
  6. Bovet, Richard. Panaemonium: The Devil's Cloyster. Reprinted from 1951 edition. Rowman and Littlefield: Totowa, NJ. 1975. Order from Amazon.com

    Republication of the 1684 book, discussing the Anglican view of witchcraft.
  7. Boyer, Paul & Nissenbaum, Stephen. Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA. 1974. Order from Amazon.com

    Boyer & Nissenbaum provide a neat Marxist reading of the events of the witchcraft hysteria of 1692, showing how the conflicting economic interests and allegiances of the agrarian and mercantile classes in Salem Village were reflected in the patterns of who were the accusers and the accused.

Return to 17th c. Index Page.
This page was last updated Feb. 15, 2009 by Margo Burns, margoburns@gmail.com