Praise for A Reforming People

“In this elegant and richly nuanced book, David Hall rescues the New England Puritans from the dark myths of repression. By recovering their probing ideas and eloquent debates, Hall reveals our original revolutionaries in search of equity, justice, and community.”

—Alan Taylor, author of The Civil War of 1812

“A bright history … and [a] reminder that we have inherited more than a few of our forefathers' growing pains.”

—Boston Globe

“Hall shows how a culture of participation and a social ethic of equity broke through the crust of authority to make possible the legal institutions and practices of mediation and compromise prerequisite to American democracy.”

—James T. Kloppenberg, author of Reading Obama: Dreams, Hope, and the American Political Tradition

“[A] captivating study…. Hall's first-rate book offers a glimpse of a small slice of American religious history, challenging prevailing ideas about the nature of reform in Puritan New England.”

—Publishers Weekly

“A Reforming People powerfully transforms our understanding of the role of Puritanism in the remaking of political culture and institutions in seventeenth-century New England. A model of elegance and erudition, David Hall's thought-provoking book reopens the testing question of the roots of modern politics in the Anglo-colonial world. It tells a compelling story that has immense resonance for our understanding of the past—but also the present.”

—Alexandra Walsham, author of Charitable Hatred: Tolerance and Intolerance in England 1500–1700

“A remarkably sophisticated and lucid work that ultimately shifts the established paradigm and opens up numerous avenues for further research.”

—Library Journal

“David Hall shapes mounds of evidence into a depiction of New England unlike any we have ever seen. His Puritanism is neither authoritarian nor democratic but something of its own. Hall makes Puritanism intelligible to the 21st century.”

—Richard Lyman Bushman, author of The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities

“This book presents a well-argued thesis that will be of value to both specialists and well-informed general readers.”

—Booklist

“Thanks to Nathaniel Hawthorne and Arthur Miller, Puritan New England is popularly identified with authoritarian theocracy. In this book, a brilliant historian of early New England takes us beyond the stereotype, and reveals how the first Puritan settlers enacted their own ‘English Revolution’ in public life. Hall depicts a society that (despite its failings) prized and institutionalised accountability, participation, and equity. Never before have we had such a compelling account of the New Englanders' civic achievement.”

—Professor John Coffey, co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Puritanism

“Hall's book is persuasive, thanks to his detailed research … [and his] prose helps to elucidate complex issues.”

—Providence Journal Arts Blog

“Hall reminds us of the political accomplishments of New England's founders, their radical remaking of the nature of public life, through their commitment to self-government and their ethic of equity and mutual obligation. With an authority rooted in his unmatched mastery of the sources, Hall provides an elegant and heartfelt testament to the continuing relevance of the Puritans.”

—Mark Peterson, author of The City-State of Boston, 1630–1865

“Hall effectively dispels the stereotype of Puritans as authoritative, intolerant, and repressive…. An excellent study for any reader seeking a precise account of Puritan New England's accomplishments.”

—Magill Book Reviews