American Puritans

The Puritans who came to New England in the seventeenth century erected in the wilderness one of the great foundation blocks of the American character. Descendants of these first settlers have carried traits of the Puritan mind into a variety of pursuits and all the way across the continent. Without some understanding of Puritanism, and that at its source, there is no understanding of America. Perry Miller, Professor of American Literature at Harvard, has here collected the main works of the American Puritans, from which we learn their personal and social history, their theology and their literary and educational aims. Included in this volume are the journals, sermons, and poetry of such authors as William Bradford, John Win-throp, Cotton Mather, John Cotton, Thomas Hooker, Samuel Sewall, Ann Bradstreet, Michael Wiggleworth, and Edward Taylor.