Elaine Forman Crane

About the Author

Elaine Forman Crane is a distinguished historian and professor emerita of history at the University of Rhode Island, where she has dedicated her career to illuminating the social and cultural intricacies of early America. With a keen eye for the dramatic undercurrents of colonial life, Crane's scholarship delves into themes of family, gender, and justice in the seventeenth-century New England landscape. Her meticulous research draws from primary sources to reconstruct forgotten narratives, offering fresh perspectives on how ordinary individuals navigated extraordinary circumstances. Best known for her evocative exploration of a sensational murder case in Killed Strangely: The Death of Rebecca Cornell, Crane brings to life the tensions between Puritan piety and human frailty, making complex historical events accessible and compelling for both scholars and general readers alike.