The Crucible

Set in Salem in 1692, Arthur Miller's classic The Crucible brings to life "one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history." Based on the historic witch-hunts and trials of seventeenth-century new England, Miller's drama presents a searing portrait of a community engulfed by hysteria. In 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 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. Written nearly fifty years ago, The Crucible was originally seen as a mirror reflecting the anti-Communist hysteria inspired by Senator Joseph McCarthy's "witch-hunts." But the play's enduring vitality owes little to the political and social context in which it was conceived. It stands instead as a classic study of the seductions of power and as powerful testimony of the courage with which some men and women can challenge the ruling orthodoxy. Now, Arthur Miller's most powerful work is back on Broadway in an acclaimed new production starring Liam Neeson and Laura Linney and directed by Richard Eyre, who contributes an insightful Foreward to this new edition. "Like a timeless myth," he writes, "The Crucible thrives across the boundaries of history and geography, culture and race, a story that is accessible as much in Lagos and Beijing as in Los Angeles and New York." (front flap)

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.