New England Puritans & Pilgrims Books

New England Puritans & Pilgrims Books

David Jaffee, People of the Wachusett: Greater New England in History and Memory, 1630–1860 (1999)

A very focused history of a specific area (inland New England), but anice example of a regional history that charts the growth, conflict, and development of a certain area through time.

Michael Kaufmann, Institutional Individualism: Conversion, Exile and Nostalgia in Puritan New England (1998)

A more modern history and assessment of the Puritans, taking into account their sense of individual identity. Addresses the work of previous scholarship on the Puritans, including a useful reassessment of Anne Hutchinson.

Perry Miller, Errand Into the Wilderness (1956)

A classic if dated (and compact) history from one of the Puritans' most preeminent historians. Not really an easy read—a very complex, nuanced analysis of Puritan thought and doctrine.

Gary B. Nash, Red, White, and Black: The Peoples of Early America (1973)

An excellent balance of perspectives on the period, incorporating more Native American history and detail than most New England histories, particularly the older ones.

Daniel K. Richter, Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America (2001)

A valuable history from an indigenous perspective that reaffirms the central role Native Americans played in the period's history and in their extraordinary ability to adapt to the unprecedented elements introduced with the arrival of the Europeans. Specifically traces the stories of three figures relatively well known even in the standard European histories: Pocahontas, Blessed Catherine Tekakwitha, and the Algonquin warrior Metacom.

Laurel Ulrich, Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650–1750 (1983)

A wonderful work of history that debunks many Puritan stereotypes while reiterating the nonetheless strict codes and difficult circumstances under which these women labored and lived.