Which history book has had the greatest influence on you? The Salem witch trials, in 1692. Is there an important historical text you have not read? Locating the full court records for the Salem witch trials. Mary Beth Norton is the Mary Donlon Alger Professor Emerita at Cornell University and the author of ‘I Humbly Beg Your Speedy Answer’: Letters on Love and Marriage from the World’s First Personal Advice Column (Princeton University Press, 2025).