Witches, Wife Beaters, & Whores: Common Law and Common Folk in Early America

[ARPad95]

by Elaine Forman Crane
Copyright 2011 by Cornell University

This book arrived from Amazon today in a plastic bubble envelope and I can't stop smelling it. It smells like fresh baked cinnamon buns with icing. I'm not kidding! Is Amazon adding scents to the packaging?

It's going to be a great read because of the subject matter, but it smells so good I'm going to sleep with it, too!

Edited to add one of the reviews from the back cover:

"With sensitivity and imagination, Elaine Forman Crane recaptures little-known episodes of witchcraft, murder, sexual assault, and domestic violence. She skillfully explores how deeply ingrained understandings of law and legal culture shaped the behavior of ordinary people in early America---whether victims, perpetrators, or neighbors. The book is a model of how legal sources can be mined to illuminate the workings of property, power, race, and gender in everyday life." ---Bruce H. Mann, Carl F. Schipper, Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, author of "Republic of Debtors: Bankruptcy in the Age of American Independence"

[hunter]

1. That America was ugly.

The current America is somewhat improved but not enough.

Link?

[ARPad95]

3. If you mean a link to the book on Amazon, here ya' go

https://www.amazon.com/Witches-Wife-Beaters-Whores-America/dp/0801477417/

[twin_ghost]

2. Back in the 1600's if you didn't like your neighbors daughter or wife.

You could claim they were witches and have them drowned or burned at the stake.

[ARPad95]

4. The title of the chapter on witches is Bermuda Triangle: Witchcraft, Quakers, and Sexual Eclecticism

There are 6 chapters altogether and that's the second one.