This is non-fiction from the history and geography section of the Dewey Decimal system specifically 974.450.
In this book, O’Reilly and Dugard take a look at one of the most notorious episodes in United States history, the infamous Salem witch trials. The authors looked briefly at the history of killing witches which dates back centuries.
We’ve all heard that the Puritans had left England, sailing on the Mayflower seeking freedom to worship in the new world. But they only wanted to follow their faith differently than in England, where the Church, and it’s practices, was officially endorsed by the King. When Massachusetts was founded, it was essentially a theocracy in which religious authority was blended with political power. In 1635, Roger Williams was banished from the Plymouth Colony for sedition and heresy, and he ended up founding Rhode Island, where for the first time there was separation of church and state. The Puritans founding Salem sought to create a holy commonwealth, a perfect society governed by strict Puritan rules. However, their intense focus on purity also made them hyper-vigilant for signs of evil, including witchcraft within their own community. For example, crop failures might be blamed on the devil, or if you developed a rash after someone looked at you oddly, that person might be considered to be doing the work of the devil.
When residents begin to see specters/ghosts or become” afflicted,” they accused people who were “different,” or didn’t conform fully to the religious ideals of the community, of being witches, or being in league with the devil. Many of those who would not confess – despite being tortured to do so – were hanged. Overall, this part of the book is a scathing look at how people could be prosecuted with the full support of the church and state, based primarily on so-called “spectral evidence:” testimony about dreams or visions of an accused person’s spirit afflicting someone.
The second part of the book looks at the religious beliefs (or not) of the American founding fathers like Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Washington, etc. and how that affected their work in developing the United States Constitution. While in the early days only Rhode Island was a bastion of religious freedom, eventually the US Constitution prescribed a separation of church and state, though that had not been a sure thing.
But the authors also included a couple of modern examples illustrating how even in current times, the demonization of people for their beliefs or even (possibly deliberate) misunderstanding of public comments is increasing, and how quickly a cancel-culture hysteria can cause damage to innocent individuals.
