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PREFACE The Puritan Experiment was first published in 1976. It originated from a series of notes I had developed for my doctoral study group at Columbia University. I had undertaken that task because there was no single volume that introduced nonspecialists to the breadth of colonial New England studies—the theology and the demography, the periphery as well as Massachusetts Bay. The confidence of Chilton Williamson,Jr., at St. Martin's Press and the encouragement ofAlden Vaughan, my supervisor at Columbia, made it possible to turn those notes into a book. The Puritan Experiment was written as an interpretive synthesis, though I tried to bring to the work my own sense of the importance of a trans-Atlantic perspective on Puritanism and my awareness ofthe variations within the orthodox New England Way. I have been gratified by many reports indicating that it has proved useful, even in xerox copies after it had gone out of print! Twenty years later, countless valuable new monographs have farther enriched our understanding of the subject, but there is still no other book that seeks to integrate the many dimensions of New England studies. In revising this volume I have tried to come to terms with this new scholarship , but I find that my understanding of the subject has not fundamentally changed. What has changed is that the trans-Atlantic dimension features even more prominently than before; the early chapters contain some new insights that reflect the rich current scholarship on Tudor-Stuart religion; and I have totally restructured a number of chapters and have made some changes in all of them. While I have once again incorporated my own insights where appropriate, the strengths of The Puritan Experiment continue to be its reflection of the richness of the field and its tribute to the scholarship of those who share my enthusiasm for the seventeenth century. I hope that it will not only introduce readers to the New England colonists but will inspire those readers to delve into the specialized literature. All historians are indebted both to the scholars who have gone before x Preface them and to the colleagues with whom they agree and disagree. The special rewards of studying the Puritans come from the number and quality of one's fellow investigators. Over the past two decades I have had the pleasure of reading the newer works suggested at the end of this volume "for further reading," as well as the pleasure of meeting many of those scholars and profiting from their friendship and advice. Anyone who is familiar with the field will recognize my debt to my peers and the thanks I owe them. But I would like to give a special thanks to Michael McGiffert for the suggestions he provided on some of the chapters he was kind enough to review. I would like to thank the staff of the University Press of New England for their interest in bringing this study back to life and for their help in doing so. Finally, I would like to thank those members of my family as well as my friends and former students who have provided encouragement and support during the preparation of this revision. Among the former I want to single out my wife, Bobbi; my children, Heather, Kristin, and Megan; my son-in-law Craig; my grandson, Keegan; my mother, Marie Bremer; and my mother-in-law, Alice Woodlock. Among friends on both sides of the Atlantic I wish to give special thanks to Dennis Downey, Donald Yacovone, John Morrill, Tom Webster, and Martin Wood. In the twenty years that have elapsed since the first edition of this study my understanding of the subject and my ability to communicate my ideas clearly have been enhanced by exchanges with a number of exceptional students, among whom are Dan Richter, Steve Ward, Dave Jaeger, Pat Levin, Chris Fritsch, Dan Martin, Monica Spieise, Tim Whisler, Susan Whisler, Richard Rath, Melody Herr, Ellen Rydel, and Terri Sales. February 199$ F.J.B. ...

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