The document provides context about Arthur Miller's play The Crucible. It was written in 1952 and set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 during the Salem Witch Trials. Miller used the historical events of the witch trials as an allegory to parallel the anti-Communist hysteria of the 1950s led by Senator Joseph McCarthy. The play examines themes of intolerance, hysteria, and the danger of one's reputation being ruined by association alone.