Marion Lena Starkey's Books

A Little Rebellion

By: Marion Lena Starkey

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Miss Starkey, author of the famed Death in Massachusetts, with her customary magic touch here deals with the tragic interplay of arrogance in high places and ignorance in low. TIME: the wake of the American Revolution PLACE: western Massachusetts SUBJECT: the series of revolts culminating in Shays’ Rebellion PROVOCATION: plain human misery and the heartbreak and disillusionment that await the victors of wars The Yankee farmer, having thrown off the tyranny of the British King, dreamed of a Utopia in which taxes would be trifling and debts remitted. Instead they faced the harsh edicts of the Boston aristocrats. Was this not enough to anger a man? So the embattled farmers of ‘76 once more picked up their muskets and took to the road, animated by the same spirit that had moved them 10 years before. They were supported by much of the old revolutionary paraphernalia: county conventions, committees of correspondence, resources solemnly taken. It wasn’t a long war. But it had consequences. No event that called Washington back to public life and impelled thirteen state governments of violently divergent interests to form a more perfect union can be lightly dismissed. Both sides soon invented their devils, for we have always been eager to believe, especially in rural America, in some great but essentially simple conspiracy in high places. The embattled farmers thought the Boston aristocrats aimed at tyranny, and Governor Bowdoin thought that British agents were behind the rebellion. Then as now, it was a time of inflation, high taxes, loyalty oaths—and anxiety. Then as now, arrogance and ignorance did their evil work. Miss Starkey, as always, has so steeped herself in the records left by plain people that the book reads like a novel, although there is not one word of fiction in it. It is a stirring revelation, in dramatic form, of the eternal conflict between man’s political illusions and hard reality.

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329

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Pickle Partners Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1789123151

ISBN 13

9781789123159

The Devil in Massachusetts

A Modern Inquiry into the Salem Witch Trials

By: Marion L. Starkey

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The Devil in Massachusetts

A Modern Inquiry into the Salem Witch Trials

By: Marion L. Starkey

This dramatic and deeply moving book combines a narrative that has the pace and excitement of a novel, a timeless portrait of bigotry and a self-righteousness, and an authentic history of the Salem witch trials. It stands alone in applying modern psychiatric knowledge to the witchcraft hysteria. Nearly three hundred years ago the fate of Massachusetts was delivered into the hands of a pack of young girls. Because of the fantasies and hysterical antics of unbalanced teenagers, decent men and women were sent to the gallows. Medical science that day had no better explanation than “the evil eye”; and so Massachusetts was precipitated into a reign of terror that did not end until the highest in the land had been accused of witchcraft—ministers, a judge, the Governor’s lady. One by one were brought to the gallows such diverse personalities as a decent grandmother; a rakish, pipe-smoking female tramp; a plain farmer who thought only to save his wife from molestation; a lame old man whose toothless gums did not deny expression to a very salty vocabulary. But from the very beginning some fought the hysteria, pitting sanity against insanity, and eventually forced the community to atone for its tragic error. Written with sly humor, much of the book reads like a novel. In the end, one is pretty sure what was wrong with Cotton Mather, the august judges, and the tormented young girls. “The Devil in Massachusetts is a vivid and compassionate reconstruction of the Salem witchcraft hysteria. Marion Starkey has written history which illustrates the past and at the same time packs and important contemporary moral.”—Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. “It is certainly a ‘one sitting’ sort of book, with the dramatic appeal of the well-told story and the significances of good human history.”—Gerald Warner Brace “A fresh and full narration...of one of the most lurid, pitiful and deeply significant episodes in American history....”—Odell Shepard

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436

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Pickle Partners Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1789125626

ISBN 13

9781789125627

A Little Rebellion

By: Marion Lena Starkey

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A Little Rebellion

By: Marion Lena Starkey

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

329

Publisher

Pickle Partners Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1789123151

ISBN 13

9781789123159

Book's by Marion Lena Starkey

A Little Rebellion

A Little Rebellion

The Devil in Massachusetts

The Devil in Massachusetts

A Little Rebellion

A Little Rebellion

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