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Werken van Marion Lena Starkey

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The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography Volume I (1918) — Introductie, sommige edities46 exemplaren

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Geboortedatum
1901-04-13
Overlijdensdatum
1991-12-18
Geslacht
female
Nationaliteit
USA
Geboorteplaats
Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
Plaats van overlijden
Saugus, Massachusetts, USA
Woonplaatsen
Saugus, Massachusetts, USA
Opleiding
Boston University
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Beroepen
historian
professor
newspaper editor
author
Prijzen en onderscheidingen
Guggenheim Fellowship
Korte biografie
Marion Lena Starkey was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, to an old New England family. One of her ancestors, Peregrine White, was born on the Pilgrim ship Mayflower. She began writing as a child. She earned her B.S. in 1922 and her M.A. in 1935 from Boston University, and attended the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She worked as an editor for the Saugus Herald from 1923 to 1927, and spent two years in the Women’s Army Corps (WACs) during World War II. While in the Army, she saw Morocco, Algeria, Italy, and France, having previously visited Russia, Czechoslovakia, and Mexico in peacetime. She was a professor of English at the Hampton Institute in Virginia and at the University of Connecticut in New London, before becoming a full-time writer. Her most famous book was The Devil in Massachusetts: A Modern Inquiry into the Salem Witch Trials (1949). Working from court records, Miss Starkey created a now-famous psychological portrait tracing the development of the event from child fantasies to societal hysteria. Arthur Miller is said to have used this work in his research for his 1953 play The Crucible. Miss Starkey received a Guggenheim Fellowship to do research in Massachusetts history for her book A Little Rebellion (1955), about the series of revolts that culminated in Shays’ Rebellion. Her other history books included Land Where Our Fathers Died: The Settling of the Eastern Shores, 1607-1735 (1962); Lace Cuffs and Leather Aprons: Popular Struggles in the Federalist Era, 1783-1800 (1972); and a children's book, The Tall Man from Boston (1975).

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I’ve been working my way through a series of books on the Salem witchcraft outbreak of 1692; so far this includes Stacy Schiff’s The Witches, Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaums’s Salem Possessed, and rel="nofollow" target="_top">Cotton Mather’s The Wonders of the Invisible World.

Marion Starkey’s The Devil in Massachusetts is the most readable so far, although the almost novelistic treatment may disguise some historical inaccuracy (in her Preface, she notes she “…has taken slight liberties with the records”). Her narration is in chronological order and her characters all have real personalities – perhaps not their actual personalities, of course. In Starkey’s version, Reverend Samuel Parris, the slave Tituba, and the children Betty Parris and Abigail Williams are somewhat more culpable in the initial events here than they are in the other books, as is Cotton Mather in the later part of the story (particularly the trial and execution of George Burroughs). Starkey, like Schiff, buys into “hysteria” as the cause of the girls’ accusations – even putting Freud in her references section. Starkey also refers to a suggestion – not in the main text but in her endnotes – that some of the accusers’ “possession” may have been due to consuming or handling Jimson weed. She doesn’t go to far with that and none of the other books I’ve read have mentioned it.

Of the work’s I’ve read, Boyer and Nissenbaum’s is the only one that really goes into the sociological background of what went on – the political and social aspects of living in 17th century Massachusetts. Starkey mentions a little of this – how the inhabitants of Salem were historically contentious, ready to dispute with each other over details of land boundaries and minister’s salaries, and suggests that perhaps some of these disputes may have metamorphosed into accusations of witchcraft.

One of the things that’s missing is any reference to the McCarthy Hearings – because they hadn’t happened yet; this book was written in 1947. And of course the Satanic Panic of the 1970s was decades in the future; in Starkey’s final chapter Massachusetts has redeemed itself by the early 1700s, offering compensation to those accused of witchcraft; there’s not the slightest suggestion that anything like Salem could ever happen again. Optimism springs eternal.

No illustrations. Starkey doesn’t use numbered notes; instead a “Notes” section has a discussion of the sources used for each chapter. There is a good reference section. The index seems sparse; I had a hard time finding some things I wanted to look up.… (meer)
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setnahkt | 12 andere besprekingen | Sep 29, 2019 |
 
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larainy | Feb 3, 2017 |
A new and refreshing look into the Salem Witch trials. Starkey creates a whirlpool that quickly sucks the reader into the hysteria and fear of the New World at a time when witchcraft was a legitimate fear. Unlike "The Crucible" "The Devil in Massachusetts" takes a much closer look at the likely underlying causes that led to the horrific trials and executions. Come along for the ride from start to aftermath as the Puritans give in to their worst fears.
 
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LilyRoseShadowlyn | 12 andere besprekingen | Nov 14, 2016 |

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Statistieken

Werken
11
Ook door
1
Leden
930
Populariteit
#27,610
Waardering
½ 3.7
Besprekingen
17
ISBNs
16

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