The Crucible (Penguin Plays), Hardcover

"The Crucible" is a 1952 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatization of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Miller wrote the play as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the US government blacklisted accused communists. Miller himself was questioned by the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956 and convicted of "contempt of Congress" for refusing to identify others present at meetings he had attended. It was first performed at the Martin Beck Theater on Broadway on January 22, 1953. Miller felt that this production was too stylized and cold and the reviews for it were largely hostile (although The New York Times noted "a powerful play in a driving performance"). Nonetheless, the production won the 1953 "Best Play" Tony Award. A year later a new production succeeded and the play became a classic. It is a central work in the canon of American drama. Einstein Books' edition of "The Crucible" contains supplementary texts: • "Tragedy And The Common Man", an essay by Arthur Miller. • Excerpts from Nathaniel Hawthorne's magnus opus "The Scarlet Letter", a narrative of the Salem Witch trials. • A few selected quotes of Arthur Miller.