While it is heavy on the religious aspects of the colony, the political construction is most interesting. Highly recommended for a history buff. Much more exciting than any biography of a 17th century Puritan governor written in has any right to be. He spent much of his time battling cynics on one side and zealots on the other, finding zealous belief even more threatening to stability than apathy.
May 25, Roy McCullough rated it it was amazing. The classic biography of a fascinating man and an audacious experiment. A very rich work and still worth the occasional re-read. Oct 27, T Campbell rated it really liked it. I got a little squinty when Morgan described Winthrop's wife as "one of the most attractive in history," a claim that seems extremely difficult to verify.
Fortunately, the book soon recovers from such speculations, and its respect for women of all kinds does its depiction of the fiery revolutionary Anne Hutchinson much credit. If only people like Winthrop had guided it into the present day, Puritanism and religion in general would have a better, more merciful reputation. Feb 20, Kristian rated it it was amazing.
Recommended as a model of successful popularization. It did not disappoint. I knew almost nothing about the Puritans before reading this book. I found it compelling from first page to last, and now want to read more. John Winthrop, a fellow Suffolk native, is such an interesting and appealing man.
I found myself captivated by his zeal, his love for America as a promised land, his wise political service, and his determination to resist fanaticism as the most pernicious enemy to community. Jun 08, Hunter Burnett rated it liked it. This book came across as less of a biography of John Winthrop and more as a history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony that he founded.
Pretty good read, nice entry and rough summary of the life and works of the guy. To me, he seems one of those lesser great men who made their mark on the world in ways great and small, but who aren't deemed worthy of more than a paragraph or two in most US history textbooks. Feb 07, David rated it liked it. An informative look at John Winthrop and the founding of Massachusetts. The discussion of the dangers of Separatism was enlightening. View 1 comment. Nov 16, Angie rated it liked it Shelves: read-aloud.
Good information, dry reading. Mar 09, Krystal Salenski added it Shelves: read-but-dont-own , roaring , nonfiction.
I always love learning things, but this was just boring for me to read. Not my thing, but was required of me for class. I read it, it was okay. Jul 25, Justin Andrusk rated it liked it. A decent read on the life of John Winthrop and a good level of information around his challenges both with the Massachusetts Bay Colony and personal challenges.
Nov 16, Dayla rated it it was amazing. Sep 08, Alex added it. Read it for school and did not enjoy. Jan 06, Matt Griffin rated it really liked it Shelves: non-fiction. The book is written brilliantly and its chronological organization makes for an easy to follow read.
Morgan used an extensive list of sources when writing the book composed of both primary and secondary source material. This list and his explanation of their uses can be found in the back from page to page Morgan strongly and actively voiced his opinion on the men and women involved in the history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the events and issues that John Winthrop and the others experienced during this time period.
Morgan colors Winthrop in a heroic light. He makes no effort to hide his thoughts on any of the people involved in this history; he inserts his opinion on everyone from Margaret Winthrop to Roger Williams. However, instances similar to the above example with Anne Hutchinson are scarce and the book maintains a proper balance of opinion and historical representation throughout that is also exciting and appealing to readers.
Good detail is provided for all of the subjects addressed in the book and the range of ideas is seamlessly woven together. Morgan achieves this thoroughness with concise and direct writing that proves what could have been a lengthy historical account in only pages.
Questions today about Puritanism, colonialism, and the separation of church and state provoke answers that are more often tinged by current events than historical evidence. The truth, of course, is rarely so partisan. Winthrop, a seventeenth-century English lawyer and real estate investor, was selected for his good reputation and savvy acumen to govern the Cr Questions today about Puritanism, colonialism, and the separation of church and state provoke answers that are more often tinged by current events than historical evidence.
Winthrop, a seventeenth-century English lawyer and real estate investor, was selected for his good reputation and savvy acumen to govern the Crown's investment in the New World at Massachusetts Bay. Less officially, Winthrop was in part favored for the position because it was expected that the Massachusetts governor would help oversee a Christian social experiment apart from the sullying interference of the Church of England.
Winthrop seemed to take both tasks seriously and perform them ably. The account of his life and leadership is fascinating. Morgan grew interested as an undergraduate in early American history and made it the central subject of his long, prolific career. Winthrop and the Bay Colony in particular provide an excellent window into early-American Puritanism and pre-Revolutionary separatism.
Both movements should interest us today because they continue to reverberate in American thought, worship, and politics, both consciously and unconsciously. Morgan's treatment is fair, his style easy, and his presentation brief.
Although a professed atheist, Morgan presents the theological views of Winthrop and others with care and context. As a historian, Morgan wrote in a simple, accessible style, and he believed strongly that historians should prefer literal interpretations of primary sources and should only depart from literal readings when they have good reasons. He therefore does not attempt to give every side of every question, but he moves the narrative along and, in sparing endnotes, identifies where his interpretation differs from others.
This allows the reader to enjoy the book, and finish it quickly, while having the benefit of a springboard to further reading. The book's accessible style, however, sometimes gives way to breezy, conclusory passages that are short on supporting examples. As readers, we are left grateful for the brevity, but also facing our own dilemma: whether to conduct our own study of the primary sources or take Morgan's view by faith.
Sep 04, Jeffrey Williams rated it liked it Shelves: history. Morgan clearly shows that he is a competent writer and excellent researcher, especially in light of the depth of research in some of his other works.
In this particular tome, he focuses a little too narrowly on Winthrop, enough to where he perhaps holds his subject up on too high of a pedestal. It becomes a monolithic read about one guy who seems to do just about everything right, but nobody else can hold a candle to his heroics.
It would be a great concept for, say, Harry Potter, but is tough w Morgan clearly shows that he is a competent writer and excellent researcher, especially in light of the depth of research in some of his other works. It would be a great concept for, say, Harry Potter, but is tough when dealing with an actual figure of prominence from history. Morgan's strength lies in two chapters, "Separatism Unleashed" and "Seventeenth-Century Nihilism" when he discusses the cases against Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson.
He lays out the exchanges between Winthrop and these other two characters from history very well. Did everybody else have the same dilemma as John Winthrop? Or would this have been better named "John Winthrop's Dilemma? That is not to say that this book doesn't have it's merits. Overall, I wish Morgan would have ventured into the depths a little bit more.
There is a lot that he leaves out, like relations with other colonies, perceptions of the Massachusetts Bay Colony by those in England including the Parliament and Monarchy , as well as more on the economic front. While not as extensive as "American Slavery-American Freedom," it is an adequate book to take a cursory examination of life inside the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the s and s. Sep 01, Eric Engle rated it really liked it.
It examines a topic that we often twist and turn to fit our own agenda when we talk about the founding of what will become the United States, for most often we are not talking about the tobacco farmers in the southern colonies, or the Dutch colonists trading at Fort Orange in New York, we are most often speaking of the puritans who founded New England.
These men are often painted as refugees fleeing f The Puritan Dilemma is a very readable account of the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. These men are often painted as refugees fleeing from religious persecution and seeking religious freedom. For however reasonable these men were, with John Winthrop certainly peaking as one of the most tolerant and reasonable of these men, they were still quite intolerant and far from the portrait that is so often painted as a utopia of religious freedom that was the colonies.
It is a fascinating book and allows us a glimpse at the ambitions of these men and specifically John Winthrop. These are our forefathers and these ideals are what the nation was founded upon. The intellectuals of this time hailed from this area more than any other and through them came fantastic things, but this examines the whole truth not a sordid account that was painted for a political agenda.
Shelves: nonfic. Easy to read, and helpful in elucidating the historical and theological landscape of the Puritans. My longstanding if unaddressed puzzlement about how my old campus minister adamantly insisted that the Puritans were NOT Separatists is finally resolved. And it's true - the Puritans were not Separatists. If the Puritans and Separatists were two circles in a Venn diagram, there might be some overlap - but not to the extent that these categories are popularly conflated. I also now have a much be Easy to read, and helpful in elucidating the historical and theological landscape of the Puritans.
I also now have a much better understanding of the historical relationship between Presbyterianism and Congregationalism in New England. My feelings about Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson are now more complicated and I think I need to do more reading about them. I was also touched by this quote from John Winthrop's papers which follows in this passage from the book : "[Winthrop] prepared a little argument to demonstrate the necessity of reforming corruption 'without an absolute separation.
Although most Englishmen might be ignorant and misguided, he admitted, 'yet whores and drunkards they are not: weake Christians they are indeed, and the weaker for want of that tender Care, that should be had of them: 1: by those that are sett over them to feede them: and next for that spirituall pride, that Sathan rooted into the hearts of their brethren, who when they are Converted, doe not, nor will not strengthen them, but doe Censure them, to be none of Gods people, nor any visible Christians.
Oct 15, Randall rated it liked it. So, there were these Puritans, and they had themselves a little dilemma. Morgan, the author of a classic study of them, "The Puritan Dilemma" , retired some time ago from Yale University. But he is still writing -- his latest book is a biography of Benjamin Franklin -- and still willing to talk about the Puritans he studied for so long.
Determining a day for Thanksgiving in advance, he notes, "would have been considered idolatrous. A drought or plague, by contrast, might have called for days of fasting. You did not, he says, preordain either of them. That's what the Roman Catholics did with their holy days. And the purification sought by the Puritans depended on a separation from the Catholic Church and, for some, the Church of England.
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