Leave the twentieth century behind and return to the 1600s — the time of the Puritans — with this fascinating and sometimes irreverent look at their lives, their fancies and foibles, their successes and their failures. By 1600, the Church of England was awash in pomp, power, and extravagance which many people found offensive. Of the many groups that sought to reform it, the Puritans were by far the most numerous and influential, but in the end they failed and chose instead to start over with a clean slate in the New World.
In 1629 a few Puritans settled in what is now Salem, Massachusetts, but the main wave of immigration began in 1630 when John Winthrop led the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony at Boston. Over the next two decades thousands of settlers arrived, and the Bay Colony quickly eclipsed the Pilgrim settlement at Plymouth, and all the other small beginnings made elsewhere in New England. The Puritan’s success in establishing their “city on a hill” was no accident; they had a clear vision of what they wanted and the determination to press their agenda incessantly. The factors that led to their success (singleness of purpose, religious zeal, and tenacity) ultimately led to their demise, but not before they had established a way of life and attitudes that, in some ways, have persisted to this day. Within these pages, readers will find a light-hearted, entertaining, and informative view of a sect that made an indelible impression on American life. An index to names, places and subjects adds to the value of this work.
Winston Phelps
(1987), 2016, 5½x8½, paper, index, 110 pp.
ISBN: 9781556130779
101-P3077
