I've always had a fascination with the Salem witch trials (a name, which, if I might add, is actually misleading: the witch trials aren't solely focused on Salem). It is an event which, to the modern reader, might look—dare I say it?—stupid and foolish. Witchcraft isn't real, as any sensible person would tell you. They are, at best, figments of imagination and, at worst, a grave insult thrown around simply because one can't think of anything else to say. To call someone a witch, therefore, and to honestly believe that the claim is true is baffling.

Yet that is what happened in this play and in history. Religious fervor and suppressed hatred towards neighbor has led to one of the most awful chapters in history. Miller does a great job in re-imagining Salem during the infamous trials. Each character comes out of the page, fully realized to their greatest extent, memorable and, most of all, human to a fault. One feels for John Proctor the same way they feel for a living, breathing human being.

Certainly one of the better books/plays to be read. I simply cannot wait to see it as it is meant to be: on the stage.