The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World

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Gaskill combines first-rate historical research with a driving narrative in this captivating study. A riveting reading. This portrait of early America fascinates.” – Publishers Weekly William Pynchon, the figure who presided over Springfield, was sixty years old. He had traveled far, taken huge risks and weathered storms, metaphorical and real. New England had proved a grueling ordeal. His wife had died; his boat had been swept away; other townships had censured him. With courage girded by a strong faith, he had journeyed far into the wilderness to trade with the Indians, standing his ground in tense, halting exchanges. Life was unpredictable, and there were few people he could trust. Pynchon had been stalked by war, hunger and pestilence. But he had never experienced anything like the events of winter 1650–51: strange accidents blamed on the Parsons household, their neighbors swooning and convulsing, eerie sounds and apparitions, and throughout Springfield a pervasive mood of dread. This was an interesting journey into the lives of Hugh and Mary Parsons, who both lived in Springfield, America, and how they both met terrible consequences, die to their unpopularity within the village and because accused of performing witchcraft. This book has been structured well, and Gaskill has obviously done his research on the history of Springfield, and the surrounding areas.

Health Features Could ‘tweakments’ like Botox and filler affect skin health long-term? What the experts want you to know 03:30One of the things in Springfield is that self-loathing builds up and is projected onto Hugh and Mary Parsons, and they get rid of them, but they aren’t suddenly happy and cleansed and pure. The things that we think are good for us don’t turn out to be as good as we thought. In a modern example, say, exercise or eating well or not smoking, not drinking too much, obviously there are health benefits. But deep down we think that if we do those things because we feel there’s a moral element to it as well – we do want to be better people. But sometimes, those things don’t quite deliver. Money might be a better example. Obviously below a certain level, and in this day and age with the cost-of-living crisis, below a certain level having no money does make you miserable. But equally when you reach a certain point, you don’t get exponentially happier and we often strive for things that we think we want, often material things, and they don’t always quite live up to expectation. People in Springfield are rather strange, and often rather unpleasant, and it was a long time ago. Their emotional world is different from ours and if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be history. However, there are elements to them that we can identify within ourselves, because, really, biologically, and mentally they’re surprisingly ike us, just in a different time and place. Home & Garden Ask Diarmuid Gavin: Can you give me some ideas for plants for an interior courtyard that’s quite dark? 03:30 Funder reveals how O’Shaughnessy Blair self-effacingly supported Orwell intellectually, emotionally, medically and financially ... why didn’t Orwell do the same for his wife in her equally serious time of need?’

Eileen M Hunt: Feminism vs Big Brother - Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder; Julia by Sandra Newman The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the sphere of suffering shared, and in this case extended to the death march itself, there is no spiritual or emotional legacy here to offset any reader reluctance.Gaskill uses the case of Hugh and Mary Parsons as a microcosm of the wider fear and paranoia surrounding witchcraft in Springfield, Mass. When put under the microscope, he examines the many small yet important ways the downfall of a marriage led to such severe consequences as Mary and Hugh grew alienated from eachother, their community and their expected purpose in gods eyes. Peter Holliday has been appointed interim director of the London Film School after Gisli Snaer stepped down. Formerly director of strategic development at London South Bank University, as a consultant he has also held a series of senior sector roles on an interim basis. We are fortunate that historian Malcolm Gaskill immersed himself in this remarkable and, until now, largely neglected document. Archived at the New York Public Library, it grounds his enthralling book on a 17th-century witch hunt that, in the author’s deft hands, fascinates as much as the more notorious one that gripped Salem decades later. LoveReading exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. The Ruin of all Witches is a fascinating portrayal into an unknown history of witches within America, focusing solely on the case of Hugh and Mary Parsons within Springfield.