Mary Beth Norton

In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 examines the Salem witch trials through the political, military, religious, and family tensions of colonial New England. Norton connects the crisis to frontier warfare and fears affecting Massachusetts communities.

She argues that violence and insecurity on New England's northern frontier shaped the fears brought into the Salem crisis. The book treats the 1692 accusations as part of a wider colonial environment rather than an isolated village event.

She examines women's household labor, legal status, religious roles, and political influence in early American communities. Gender is treated as a central structure of colonial society, not as a separate topic from politics.

Founding Mothers and Fathers studies gendered power in the formation of American society. It complements Norton's Salem scholarship by examining how women and men participated differently in colonial institutions and political life.