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A fascinating examination of how Americans think about and write about witches, from the 'real' witches tried and sometimes executed in early New England to modern re-imaginings of witches as pagan priestesses, comic-strip heroines and feminist icons. The first half of the book is a thorough re-reading of the original documents describing witchcraft prosecutions from 1640-1700 and a re-thinking of these sources as far less coherent and trustworthy than most historians have considered them to be. The second half of the book examines how these historical narratives have transformed into myths of witchcraft still current in American society, writing and visual culture. The discussion includes references to everything from Increase Mather and Edgar Allan Poe to Joss Whedon (the writer/director of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which includes a Wiccan character) and The Blair Witch Project.
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Drawing from a wide range of sources, this work is a continuation of one line of the Bulkeley family, focusing on the ancestors and descendants of Moses Bulkley (1727-1812) last presented in The Bulkeley Genealogy by Donald Lines Jacobus in 1933. The relationship between the earliest American ancestors on this line, Reverend Peter Bulkeley and Reverend John Jones, founders of the First Parish Church in Concord, Massachusetts in 1636, is re-examined. New evidence revealing critical errors made by Concord historians since 1835 will re-characterize the essential clerical friendship the two men shared and show the true reasons for John Jones's removal to Fairfield, Connecticut in 1644. Using cen...
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