Literally the study of historical writing, “historiography” emphasizes not the events of the past and their causes-the standard subject matter of the discipline of history-but rather how historians construct their narratives and explanations of these events. Its purpose is to describe author biases and how they chose data to emphasize their storylines, while justifying myriad causes of the accusers. Switching Sides: How a Generation of Historians Lost Sympathy for the Victims of the Salem Witch Hunt is not a history book, Fels explains. However, in looking for underlying causes of the witch hunts, Fels claims these writers lost sight of the real victims-the accused witches. These influential books, published between 19, are “exemplary histories that have greatly augmented the world’s knowledge of witch hunting in 17th-century America,” according to Tony Fels, associate professor of history at the University of San Francisco. Only a handful of books published on the Salem witch hunts have become standard textbooks in classrooms and popular among the reading public.
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