Can any give a short summary of the play, ' The Crucible'?

The Crucible was written as a response to McCarthyism in the United States. The whole atmosphere of the play is paranoia. The setting takes place in the days of Salem Witch Trials, but its real meaning was to expose McCarthyism for what it was - insanity based on a lie. McCarthy was eventually exposed as a fraud when he attacked the former Secretary of the Army as being a possible communist. There were communist spies in the State Department as he claimed, but he didn't have a clue as to who they really were.