Product Description

Based on historical people and real events, Arthur Miller's play uses the destructive power of socially sanctioned violence unleashed by the rumors of witchcraft as a powerful parable about McCarthyism.

Introduction by Christopher Bigsby

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11291 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-25
• Released on: 2003-03-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

About the Author
Arthur Miller, born in New York City, has been a prominent and influential playwright for the last half-century. His works include Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, and All My Sons. He has twice won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and in 1949 was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

Christopher Bigsby is professor of American studies at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, England.

Customer Reviews

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Okay, so all sorts of historical details are altered for the sake of character drama, but so what? It does not change the fact that this is one heck of a great play that offers it all: romance, betrayal, psychology, murder, and more, all set in a sleepy little Puritan town obsessed with witches that has become the victim of the "games" of a few young girls.

While I would hardly recommend it to someone going for deep facts of the Salem Witch Trials, this still draws on historical characters and does an excellent job of portraying them as real people. You feel for them, even the ones you hate.

"The Crucible" is well-named as the pot that heats everything up, and Miller takes minor events and shows how they become the tragedy that was the witch trials.

This is an incredibly powerful and important story that teaches messages as the drama entertains.

Courtesy of Mother Daughter Book Club.com
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a great book to read with a mother-daughter book club. It provides an outlet to talk about issues the girls are covering in school, and to find out about how their perspectives differ from those of their moms. The issues of witchcraft and socially sanctioned violence against a targeted group seem eerily relevant to some of the things going on in our world today. This book challenged all of us to think about the most important things in our lives and what we're willing to sacrifice to achieve a higher cause.

Prompt service
Daughter needed it for a project for an accelerated class. It came in time and she was able to complete her assignments with a new book.