Second Book Summary: "The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege"

                 There is no greater treasure trove of knowledge about the Salem Witch Trials available to the general public than Roach's chronicle. This author spent 10 years in libraries, searching old journals, letters, and more, looking for bits of information to collect. Her book encompasses not only Salem Village and Salem Town, but also Ipswich, and other witch trial locations that are often passed over because of mainstream belief that the trials were limited to one area. The book includes a list of all the "afflicted," all the condemned, and all known residents of the towns where witch trials were held in addition to the day by day account of occurrings in each village. Roach also keeps an open mind about what really happened in Salem in the 1690's. She neither accuses the afflicted of acting for their own purposes nor does she write off the hysteria to a psychological condition. This integrity and unbiased view concerning the trials is refreshing in a subject that is often twisted by personal opinion and mainstream myths. There is no greater source of information concerning the trials. Thus, it is the best book the compare to "The Crucible" and "Wicked Girls."