Claude Clayton Smith

media release: The Wisconsin debut of Claude Clayton Smith's historical novel THE STRATFORD DEVIL is Sunday, January 14, from 1-2 pm, at Madison's West Towne Barnes & Noble. Professor Emeritus of English, Ohio Northern University, Smith earned his bachelor of arts at Wesleyan, a master of arts in teaching at Yale, a master of fine arts in fiction from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, and a doctor of arts from Carnegie-Mellon. He will speak to students at Wisconsin schools that read his novel. He can be reached through his website: http://claudeclaytonsmith.wordpress.com/

More on the book below.

After 15 years of controversy, the Connecticut legislature has drawn national attention to the state by approving a resolution to absolve all those accused of witchcraft in colonial times. 

The resolution was initially proposed by a 14-year-old schoolgirl whose ancestor was accused of witchcraft. The Stratford Devil, by Madison author Claude Clayton Smith, was part of the on-going educational efforts in support of that resolution.

In 1651, Goody Bassett was hanged for witchcraft in Stratford, Connecticut, Smith’s hometown. The first edition of The Stratford Devil, published by Walker & Company in 1984, portrayed Goody Bassett as an early feminist. The second edition, published by Pocahontas Press in 2007, was read as a critique of religious extremism, environmental degradation, wolf bounties, and Native American displacement.

The new third edition, from Shanti Arts, comes in an age of political witch hunts, climate change, Native American reparations, and attempts to limit wolf populations in states that have them, Wisconsin included.  Booklist calls The Stratford Devil “plausible, stunning… A cunningly developed piece of historical fiction.”