In part because of Arthur Miller's play, the Crucible, and in part because of the scale

of accusations, the Salem Witch Tries of 1692 are the most famous of those in New England.

But they did not, as is often said, come entirely out of the blue.

There were other trials for witchcraft in the newly colonised lands of Massachusetts, and

in the remote frontier town of Springfield in 1651, a confessed witch accused her husband

of the same crime.

The couple were Hugh and Mary Parsons, and their tragic story brilliantly reconstructed

from previously neglected source material in Malcolm Gaskell's latest book The Ruhr

and of All Witches, Life and Death in the New World.

Makes us not only to the dark heart of ideas about the power of witches, but to the struggles

of early colonial life, where the Puritans engaged in both the relentless struggle against

the elements and an internal wrestle with the forces of good and evil.

People believed what they heard, he writes, less in spite of its outlandishness than because

of it.

Malcolm Gaskell is a meritus professor of early modern history at the University of East

Anglia.

His acclaimed works include Witch Finders, a 17th century English tragedy which explores

the civil war witch trials in East Anglia and Essex under the direction of Matthew Hopkins,

self-appointed Witchfinder General, and between two worlds how the English became Americans.

The story told in The Ruhr and of All Witches explores both of these themes.

Malcolm I am absolutely delighted to speak to you about this wonderful book.

Thank you very much indeed for having me see Zaheim, it's a pleasure to be here.

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