I also really enjoyed this book when I read it a few years ago, but your point that Schiff could have included more information on the background of slavery in New England is very good. I've been doing a lot of research on the history of slavery in New York City recently, and they had their own panic in 1741, over a supposed slave rebellion/conspiracy. Though there were a few cases of possible arson, historians now seem in general agreement that there wasn't any actual overarching conspiracy any more than there were literal witches in Salem. Despite that, probably around 1/4 of all the adult black men in NYC at the time ended up arrested, and around 30 people were executed (around half burned at the stake, like the pop culture image of Salem's witches!).
Anyway, the real reason I wanted to mention this is because one the main causes bringing NYC's panic to an end is a letter that a surviving witness of the Salem trials wrote to NY's surveyor-general, saying basically "you guys are doing the exact same thing we did fifty years ago, stop it", and when the surveyor-general ignored it, the letter was reprinted in full in a NYC newspaper. More of how the aftermath lived on!
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I also really enjoyed this book when I read it a few years ago, but your point that Schiff could have included more information on the background of slavery in New England is very good. I've been doing a lot of research on the history of slavery in New York City recently, and they had their own panic in 1741, over a supposed slave rebellion/conspiracy. Though there were a few cases of possible arson, historians now seem in general agreement that there wasn't any actual overarching conspiracy any more than there were literal witches in Salem. Despite that, probably around 1/4 of all the adult black men in NYC at the time ended up arrested, and around 30 people were executed (around half burned at the stake, like the pop culture image of Salem's witches!).
Anyway, the real reason I wanted to mention this is because one the main causes bringing NYC's panic to an end is a letter that a surviving witness of the Salem trials wrote to NY's surveyor-general, saying basically "you guys are doing the exact same thing we did fifty years ago, stop it", and when the surveyor-general ignored it, the letter was reprinted in full in a NYC newspaper. More of how the aftermath lived on!