Reviews

Could easily replace . . . Edmund Morgan's The Puritan Dilemma. . . as an introduction to early American history." —Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"Scholarly depth, elegant prose, and gently iconoclastic tone make this an excellent account of a misunderstood episode." —Journal of Religion

"In lively and graceful prose and with great erudition lightly worn, Winship untangles central debates in reformed Protestantism." —William and Mary Quarterly

"The finest, most delicate part of Winship's achievement is to consider Hutchinson in full, avoiding both condemnation and celebration." —New England Quarterly

"A must read for those interested in early Massachusetts society . . . [and] in the church's endless search for heretics." —Journal of Church and State

"The single most comprehensive account of the often-misinterpreted trials of one of America's first great dissenters. Winship's unparalleled understanding of seventeenth-century New England Puritanism supplies a context too frequently missing from previous accounts." —Mary Beth Norton, author of In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692

"The prosecution of Anne Hutchinson was a defining movement in early American history. Winship vividly describes dramatic courtroom scenes, powerful personalities driven to the edges of their beliefs, and the relentless hounding of a highly intelligent woman who thought she understood God's will." —Amanda Porterfield, author of Female Piety in New England: The Emergence of Religious Humanism