"The Cultural Dynamics of American Puritanism," by David Robinson discusses Steven Foster's "The Long Argument," and Amanda Portfield's "Female Piety in Puritan New England." Robinson using the works of these two authors delves into the rise and fall of the Puritans and the connection between the politics of the time and the New England Puritan movement. He states "[that the Puritans] gradual[ly] decline[d] in influence after the Salem Witch Trials." He discusses how it was "Mather who actually halted the tirals with his cases of 'Con-Science Concerning Evil Spirts' (1692), a treaty that attacked the viablilty of spectral evidence, which had become the key theological and legal issue in the trials. This lack of crediblity in the Puritan cases against the so called "Witches" led to the uncertainty in credibility of thier religious views; leading to the crumbling of their theocratical foundation in society.

"The Sources of Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown," by Fannye Cherry discusses the short story "Young Goodman Brown." The story of "Young Goodman Brown" revolves around the character Goodman Brown. Brown living in the town of Salem, embarks upon a journey through the woods to go to a witches' sabbath. Along the way he meets a devil like character who walks with him to the sabbath. Upn arriving he discovers his wife, Faith, is also there. He tells here to close her eyes and resist the wicked one. Soon after Brown finds himself alone in the forest, and in the days following becomes stern and distrustful as he has learned the dark secrets of many living in Salem. Cherry discusses how Hawthorne's story "deals with the effects of secret sin in the human heart and the dual nature of man." This story represents how many Puritans got caught up in the madness of the witch trials, but as with Goodman Brown, once they learned what was going on they tried to rid themselves of it. Many were led away from the Puritan ideals once they stepped back and saw that the sins of the church, just as Brown saw the sins of his peers.

The work "New England Witchcraft in Fiction," by G. Harrison Orians disucsses how the use of witchcraft in literature developed. He writes, "S. A. Drake, writing of Salem witchcraft in 1884, declared that until the appearance of Longfellow's New England Tragedies, 'there had been no serious attempt to make use of this sinister chapter for any other purpose than that of impartial history." Disagreeing with Drake's remark, Orian points out there actually are numerous accounts of witchcraft appearing in literature before Longfellow. He describes the appearances as contemporary accounts used for either the defense of advocates of witchcraft or as counterblasts. These uses of witchcraft as either defenses or counterblasts to the argument of witchcraft, were some of the arguments circulating and fermenting in the minds of all who experienced the Salem Witch Trials. This contemplating of where men stood in the debate, helped lead to the disentergrating of the Puritans as men and women began to think for themselves, and not take at face value what was told to them.

"I Walk the Dread: The Diary of Deliverance Trembly, Witness to the Salem Witch Trials," part of the Dear America Series, is a fictional diary of the happenings in Salem by a young girl. The book gives accounts of the daily lives of peole living in Salem during the times of the trials. The book discusses how the simple accustations in a majority of the time resulted in the conviction and hanging of the accussed. The book demonstrates how poeple can believe and take a face value what the majority believes, but also shows that with some critical thinking and simple observations of the world, one can realize that the majority may not always be doing what's right. One of the elements that continued the Salem Witch Trials as the church using the trials to accuse people of witchcraft and then seizing their land. This wrong doing of the church eventually became evident to the public. Though many living in Salem and the surrounding areas were Puritan; upon realizing what the church was doing, the faith of many began to dissenergrate and lead them away from the ideals of the Puritans which they once clinged to.

"Judge Sewall's Apology: The Salem Witchtrials and the Forming of an American Conscience," by Richard Francis delves into the Salem Witch Trials with "fresh eyes." Francis "through the story of Samuel Sewall," Salem trial judge, discusses how the efforts of the Puritan's led to the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials in 1962. He discusses how many years after the sentencing of dozens of innocent people, Judge Seawall begs God for forgiveness. Francis states, that "this marked how the modern American values came into being-- the shift from an almost medieval view of good and evil to a respect for the mysteries of the human heart." This movement leading away from the Puritan ideals of good and evil gave rise for the formation of new religious views thus further crippling the Puritan movement which struggled every after the trials.

"The Salem Witch Trials," by Stuart A. Kallen describes the Salem Witch Trials. Kallen discusses the Puritan background and how it began to lead to what became known as the Salem Witch Trials. He looks at the accusations make against the innocent, and as a whole looks at the "outcome of the hysteria." The Puritans way of percieving women and children set the stage for the Witch Trials of 1692-93. The slightly dehuminizing look Puritans had for women and children made them easy victims and targets forthose seeking to gain more land or fufill a family grudge. The ysteria brought about by the fact that anyone could be accussed led many to begin a step back from the situation and discuss what it was that was happening, leading many to discover the blame fell upon the church and its self created theocracy.