In the winter of 1692 something terrible and frightening began in Salem Village. It started with several villagers having strange fits, screaming, and unnaturally contorting themselves and ended with almost 200 people in jail and at least 25 dead. Witchcraft accusations - claims that some inhabitants had forsaken God to become servants of the Devil - spread from Salem Village across Massachusetts, ensnaring innocent people from all strata of society under a burden of assumed guilt. One of the most significant accusations, and most unlikely, was against a 71-year-old grandmother, Rebecca Nurse.

The accusations against Nurse, a well-respected member in the community, seemed unbelievable. Unflinchingly, this ailing, elderly woman insisted on her innocence and refused to falsely confess. Supported by many in Salem, Nurse’s family and neighbors challenged her accusers in court and prepared a thorough defense for her, yet nothing could surmount the fear of witchcraft, and she was sentenced to death. Nurse, seen as a martyr for the truth, later became the first person accused of witchcraft to be memorialized in North America.

In A Salem Witch: The Trial, Execution, and Exoneration of Rebecca Nurse, the first full account of Nurse’s life, Daniel A. Gagnon vividly recreates 17th-century Salem and in the process challenges previous interpretations of Nurse’s life and the 1692 witch hunt in general.

The book is published by Westholme Publishing. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

“Gagnon unravels some previous assumptions and suggests new lines of inquiry.” (Marilynne K. Roach, author of Six Women of Salem)

“Gagnon makes the complex history of the Salem witch trials more easily understood, while at the same time giving us a very good read.” (Richard B. Trask, author of The Devil Hath Been Raised)