{"product_id":"9780140247725","title":"The Crucible: Revised Edition","description":"\u003cp\u003eA haunting examination of groupthink and mass hysteria in a rural community, presented here with enlightening criticism and commentary\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history,\" Arthur Miller wrote in an introduction to \u003ci\u003eThe Crucible\u003c\/i\u003e, his classic play about the witch-hunts and trials in seventeenth-century Salem, Massachusetts. Based on historical people and real events, Miller's drama is a searing portrait of a community engulfed by hysteria.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIn the rigid theocracy of Salem, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town's most basic fears and suspicions; and when a young girl accuses Elizabeth Proctor of being a witch, self-righteous church leaders and townspeople insist that Elizabeth be brought to trial. The ruthlessness of the prosecutors and the eagerness of neighbor to testify against neighbor brilliantly illuminate the destructive power of socially sanctioned violence.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eWritten in 1953, \u003ci\u003eThe Crucible\u003c\/i\u003e is a mirror Miller uses to reflect the anti-communist hysteria inspired by Senator Joseph McCarthy's \"witch-hunts\" in the United States. Within the text itself, Miller contemplates the parallels, writing: \"Political opposition...is given an inhumane overlay, which then justifies the abrogation of all normally applied customs of civilized behavior. A political policy is equated with moral right, and opposition to it with diabolical malevolence.\"\u003cbr\u003eThis Viking Critical Library edition of Arthur Miller's dramatic recreation of the Salem witch trials contains the complete text of \u003ci\u003eThe Crucible\u003c\/i\u003e as well as extensive critical and contextual material about the play and the playwright, including:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSelections from Miller's writings on his most frequently performed play\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEssays on the historical background of \u003ci\u003eThe Crucible\u003c\/i\u003e, including personal narratives by participants in the trials and records of witchcraft in Salem from the original documents\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReviews of \u003ci\u003eThe Crucible\u003c\/i\u003e, in production by Brooks Atkinson, Walter Kerr, Eric Bentley, and others\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eExcerpts from Jean-Paul Sartre's \u003ci\u003eLes Sorcières de Salem\u003c\/i\u003e, a \"spin-off\" of Miller's play, and three analogous works by Twain, Shaw, and Budd Schulberg\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCritical essays on the play, on Miller, and on the play in the context of Miller's oeuvre\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAn introduction by the editor, a chronology, a list of topics for discussion and papers prepared by Malcolm Cowley, and a bibliography \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47049164357872,"sku":"9780140247725","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780140247725_p0.jpg?v=1763642701","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780140247725","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}