In The Wonders of the Invisible World (1693), Puritan minister Cotton Mather takes an objective stance in describing the Salem Witch Trials to the fearful public of the time. Presenting himself as a historian, Mather uses court records to produce an account so austere amd so blunt that it provokes a visceral, emotional response in the readers to the trals, perhaps turning them towards religion. The book provides a great insight into what really happened in Salem, and the mindset of the people there, so long ago.
