Everyone thinks they know the puritans: stuffy, colonial New Englanders, intolerant of difference, paranoid witch hunters, and ultra religious. Godbeer's work provides the details of their beliefs that many do not know, including belief in and practice of folk magic among the laity, and the division in perspectives of magic between the clergy and laity.

Well researched, and providing significant context (the intercolonial wars between New France and New England, as well as wars with Indigenous peoples) for the witch trials, Godbeer's work contributes signifiantly to the scholarship of colonial New England's social history. The only weakness I can highlight is that he could have spent more time on the impact of the Canadiens, and how New Englanders percieved them in relation to their witch anxieties, though he does lightly touch on this with reference to Cotton Mather.

Overall, an excellent work, highly recommended for students of colonial New England and the Salem witch trials. ( )

Woodward, Walter. (1994). Journal of Interdisciplinary History 25(2).