The Making of an American Thinking Class Intellectuals and Intelligentsia in Puritan Massachusetts

"An invigorating contribution to the scholarly literature on Puritan New England--original in perspective, forceful in argument, and graceful in presentation....By reading the sources with an uncommonly keen eye for the nuances of power, Staloff sheds new light on many heretofore slighted aspects of Massachusetts history....Old hands at Puritan studies as well as newcomers to the field will profit immensely from this insightful book."--Alden T. Vaughan, ColumbiaUniversity