I am reading, and I must say enjoying, the book Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. It is one of those sweeping “unified theory of everything” books that I like. I am still only half-way through, so I am limited in what I can say about it, but during my reading yesterday, I came across something that is going to bug me for the rest of the book.
The essential premise of the book is observing the three major “revolutions” (cognitive, agricultural, and scientific) that brought Homo sapiens to the forefront of human species, and how the evolutionary progress of our species has brought us to be the monsters that we are today. It paints in very broad strokes, and some of the premises are more specious than others, still it is an entertaining read, and a lot of it makes sense. I have no argument with his jumps of logic. My beef is with something much more trivial.
In a paragraph discussing the development of theistic world views, he quickly paints a broad picture of the scope that comes under the banner.
“The generic rubric ‘theists’ covers Jewish rabbis from eighteenth-century Poland, witch-burning Puritans from seventeenth-century Massachusetts, Aztec priests from fifteenth-century Mexico, Sufi mystics from twelfth-century Iran, tenth-century Viking warriors, second-“century Roman legionnaires, and first-century Chinese bureaucrats. Each of these viewed the others’ beliefs and practices as weird and heretical.”
I’m certain that Harari did not intend this as an exhaustive list or even a comprehensive list, but one phrase caught my eye, “witch-burning Puritans from seventeenth-century Massachusetts.” I am not a historian, but even I know that no so-called witches were burned in America. Accused non-recanting witches during the madness in Salem and elsewhere were hanged (11 in total, 9 being women). One accused male was tortured and crushed to death by stone weights on his chest. Not one of these was burned. The sentence of burning for witches took place in Europe, but never in the Colonies.
Why does this bug me so much? It isn’t important to the point he is making, and no further premise or conclusion rests on this statement. I certainly have made several incorrect statements in speech and writing, and I am universally known for my lack of attention to detail. It would seem I should let this slide…but the irritation remains.
I suppose that what’s irking is that this respected historian made a fundamental mistake about a piece of history that I would consider borderline common knowledge. Anyone who has any encounters with the history of the madness in New England (or who has read The Crucible) knows this. This is a researched and sourced book…what gives? On top of this, the book must have had multiple editors, and I am certain that it must have been sent out for some peer review prior to release. The book was released in Israel three years before the American edition, and the issue has not been corrected. I have not read reviews…yet, so I don’t know if anyone else has identified this. But no matter how much I will learn and take from this book, it will be the witches I remember.
That being said, read the book. It’s pretty good.
Be safe, be strong.
Today’s playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3RpUgyiN1GaeB4KMT4POah?si=fEY37R1-Quah9hmN11SFrQ