Eta istoriya nachalas' v shtate Massachusets neobychno surovoy zimoy 1692 goda, kogda doch' mestnogo svyashchennika vdrug stala krichat' i bit'sya v konvul'siyah. Spustya god, kogda vse zakonchilos', 19 muzhchin i zhenshchin okazalis' mertvy. Spokoynaya puritanskaya koloniya prevratilas' v scenu, na kotoroy razygryvalis' po-nastoyashchemu uzhasayushchie sobytiya. Ohota na ved'm v Saleme - eto posledniy otgolosok Srednevekov'ya v nastupivshey novoy epohe, unikal'noe istoricheskoe sobytie, kotoroe leglo v osnovu mnogih fil'mov i hudozhestvennyh romanov, i, bez somneniya, samyy znamenityy ved'movskoy process v mire. V nem byli zameshany i prostye zhiteli, i izvestnye politiki Novoy Anglii: beda ne oboshla storonoy nikogo - dazhe svyashchennik ne izbezhal viselicy. Vse opolchilis' drug na druga: sosedi obvinyali sosedey, roditeley, detey drug druga. CHto zhe eto bylo - perezhitok srednevekovyh goneniy, ob"yavshiy ves' gorod massovyy psihoz? Steysi SHiff, vydayushchiysya istorik i blestyashchiy rasskazchik, laureat Pulitcerovskoy premii, priotkryvaet zavesu tayn, na protyazhenii neskol'kih stoletiy okutyvavshih Salem. Vpervye obstanovka, slozhivshayasya v shtate Massachusets v konce XVII veka, issleduetsya nastol'ko gluboko i podrobno, a presledovanie ved'm vossozdaetsya nastol'ko polno i psihologicheski tochno. V talantlivom izlozhenii SHiff salemskie sobytiya predstayut pered chitatelem nastoyashchim detektivnym rassledovaniem, odinakovo vazhnym dlya nauki i uvlekatel'nym dlya shirokogo kruga chitateley.