Richard Godbeer

Everyone thinks they know the puritans: stuffy, colonial New Englanders, intolerant of difference, paranoid witch hunters, and ultra religious. Godbeer's work provides the details of their beliefs that many do not know, including belief in and practice of folk magic among the laity, and the division in perspectives of magic between the clergy and laity.

Well researched, and providing significant context (the intercolonial wars between New France and New England, as well as wars with Indigenous peoples) for the witch trials, Godbeer's work contributes signifiantly to the scholarship of colonial New England's social history. The only weakness I can highlight is that he could have spent more time on the impact of the Canadiens, and how New Englanders percieved them in relation to their witch anxieties, though he does lightly touch on this with reference to Cotton Mather.

Overall, an excellent work, highly recommended for students of colonial New England and the Salem witch trials.… (plus d'informations)

historical-places-events, historical-research, history, American Rev War, Quaker, family, friendship*****

Who knew? This book is an assimilation of nearly fifty years of diaries and correspondence by a Quaker couple in Philadelphia from before the beginning of hostilities until 1807. They came from money and continued in that mien although he endured imprisonment for perceived treason due to his refusal to join into combat because of his faith. This is a social history of the time as well as the personal highs and lows in a time of armed conflict on home soil. The book is exceptionally well done with the seamless insertion of known facts within the timeline as well as focusing the multitude of documents into a reasonably sized tome while not sounding like a bland doctoral thesis. I really enjoyed it!
Charles Henderson Norman gives a nice, dispassionate rendering in narrating this very long book!
Disclaimer: our family spent a number of years with The Northwest Territory Alliance re-enacting the American Revolutionary War and also admired General Nathanael Greene, a Quaker.
I won this remarkable audio in a giveaway!… (plus d'informations)