Puritan Legacies: Paradise Lost and the New England Tradition, 1630-1890 Book

Winner of the 1988 Modern Language Association Prize for Independent Scholars

"Using Paradise Lost as a touchstone first to the English Revolution and second to the way that revolution was transferred to America, Stavely convincingly argues that the 'structure of feeling' embodied in the poem persists through three centuries of American culture. His discussion of Puritan radicalism in New England and, more importantly, his detailed case studies of Marlborough and Westborough, Massachusetts, which he investigates and understands by constant reference to Milton's great poem, display his strong gifts as both literary critic and intellectual historian. Puritan Legacies is a challenging example of the 'New Historicism' we have so long needed."--Philip F. Gura, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill