| Eve LaPlante's Salem Witch Judge: The Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewall (HarperOne, 2007), follows the Boston Globe bestseller American Jezebel (HarperOne, 2004, 2005) and Seized (HarperCollins, 1993, 2000). She contributed to the collection Why I'm Still Married (Penguin, 2006) and has written for The Atlantic, The New York Times, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Gourmet. LaPlante has degrees from Princeton and Harvard. She lives with her family in New England on land once owned by Judge Sewall.
"LaPlante's touching biography of Samuel Sewall... seems hauntingly familiar. Beneath the sensational title is a figure more familiar than we realize... Salem Witch Judge upends popular stereotypes about Puritans... [and] reminds us how quickly the conventional wisdom can shift, forcing even the powerful to move."
The New York Times Book Review
"LaPlante's splendid biography brings a personal touch to Sewall's story... Much as she did in American Jezebel, the marvelous biography of her 12th-generation ancestor Anne Hutchinson, LaPlante richly narrates his life... drawing on Sewall's diaries and stories told by her Aunt Charlotte."
Publishers Weekly
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AMERICAN JEZEBEL
From Publishers Weekly LaPlante,
an 11th-generation granddaughter of Hutchinson, provides a fast-paced
and elegant account of Hutchinson's life and work, including the
reasons that Hutchinson's teachings threatened the fabric of Puritan
theology. By the time she was born, her father, Francis Marbury, had
already been in and out of jail for challenging the religious authority
of the Anglican priests in England. His continuing nonconformity,
according to LaPlante, had a lasting impact on Hutchinson's own views
of religious authority. Hutchinson also learned from the Reverend John
Cotton that God's revelation to individuals occurred mystically as a
kind of inner light and did not require a formal religious setting.
After she moved to the colonies with her husband, William Hutchinson,
she began to teach that men and women could attain salvation not
through performing religious works but through this inward grace. The
Puritans, who emphasized that the covenant of works was the only
guarantee of salvation, charged her with antinomianism (an attack
against the law of God) and with violating God's commands that a woman
should not teach. LaPlante offers a stimulating account of Hutchinson's
eloquent self-defense at her trial. Knowing that the magistrates had no
religious or political grounds to convict her, since a woman was not a
subject of the law, Hutchinson stymied their questioning. LaPlante's
first-rate biography offers glimpses into the life and teachings of a
much-neglected figure in early American religious history.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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SALEM WITCH JUDGE
From Publishers Weekly
In 1692, Salem magistrate Samuel
Sewall (1652–1730), along with several others, presided over the
conviction and execution of 20 people accused of witchcraft. Five years
and much soul-searching later, Sewall publicly repented of his part in
the witch trials. Much as she did in American Jezebel,
the marvelous biography of her 12th-generation ancestor Anne
Hutchinson, LaPlante, who counts Sewall as her sixth-great-grandfather,
richly narrates his life in its cultural and religious setting. Drawing
on Sewall's diaries and stories told by her Aunt Charlotte, LaPlante
sketches a compelling portrait of a committed family man, a dedicated
magistrate and a deeply religious Puritan confronting his own
shortcomings and questioning the doctrines of his religion. After his
public repentance, Sewall reconsidered many Puritan teachings and wrote
controversial treatises arguing for the equality of Native Americans,
women and slaves. LaPlante's splendid biography brings a personal touch
to Sewall's story (also recently recounted by historian Richard Francis
in Judge Sewall's Apology, 2005) and his efforts to take the difficult but righteous path. (Oct. 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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