Edmund S. MorganRecensioni

a totally inappropriate title½

This compelling book delves into the intriguing life and leadership of John Winthrop, one of the most prominent figures in the early history of Massachusetts. The author deftly examines the complex interplay between Winthrop's religious and political ambitions, shedding light on the tensions and conflicts that arose as he sought to reconcile these two domains. Moreover, the book provides a nuanced exploration of Winthrop's relationships with other colonists, local tribes, and his motherland of England, illuminating the intricate web of power dynamics at play in colonial America. Overall, this thought-provoking work offers a fascinating glimpse into the fascinating world of colonial politics and religion, and is an informative and accessible read for anyone interested in this period of history.

An interesting look at the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the remarkable character who lead it for most of its first couple decades. It seems easier for many people to view the Puritans as stereotypes rather than real people, but they’re more interesting as flesh and blood human beings living in the real world. Considering their importance to American beginnings, it’s probably wiser to try to understand them as real people. They were amazing in some respects, misguided in others, but they got New England going, along with Harvard, Yale and a powerful commitment to literacy and education. They also started representative government in the New World, at least in the northern British colonies, and they had a leader of rare abilities in Winthrop. This is a part of American history that’s perhaps more relegated to either caricature or the dustbin than any other, and that’s to our loss in understanding our roots and their continuing effects on our society.

Good history on John Winthrop and the early Puritans. I read it a long time ago so I don't remember much. The Puritans were not like the myths about them.

In this biographical sketch, the author -- a noted historian of the American Revolution -- expresses his admiration for this remarkable figure. A generation older than other leading Founding Fathers, Franklin had already earned enough to retire from business and devote himself to public service while Washington was a teenager and Jefferson a child. The international renown he achieved through his scientific experiments was of inestimable value when he went to France during the Revolution to plead America’s case in its quest for independence, but even more valuable in Morgan’s estimation was his integrity and winning personality.
Morgan does not gloss over Franklin’s blunders, the chief of which his feud with Thomas Penn, proprietor of the Pennsylvania colony. This son of William, colony founder, displayed all the faults of an absentee landlord, which seems to have violated Franklin’s sense of right and wrong to such an extent that he departed from the pragmatism and far-sightedness that normally governed his conduct. Yet the moribund government that resulted from Penn’s neglect was the environment in which Franklin practiced his growing skill at organizing private schemes for the public good such as a fire department and a library. It was characteristic of the man, and a key to his success, that he never appeared to lead, but let others take the initiative and even the credit in projects he organized. Those in the know saw through this, of course, and esteemed him the more for it. Ironically, this led the British to suspect that Franklin, in the long years he spent in London as agent of the colonies, was the ringleader of the growing rebellion. They were wrong, but not by much.
Franklin’s own vision of America as a partner in a transatlantic empire, in time, the dominant partner, was frustrated in his lifetime, primarily because a succession of British governments were led by men who lacked the imagination to share it (others, such as William Pitt, did grasp it, but were no longer in power). Franklin’s hope was eventually realized nevertheless in the special relationship between the two English-speaking powers through most of the 20th century.
Few people born three centuries ago are as accessible as he. Morgan based his research primarily on Franklin's own writings, which fill 46 volumes in the critical edition. At the same time, he stresses that there is always something Franklin seems to be withholding.
Morgan tells the tale well and has succeeded in his goal of presenting Franklin as an appealing personality. Some other figures, such as John Adams, who is seen through the prism of his own overweening vanity and faulted for claiming to one and all he could have done a better job negotiating with both the French and English, come off more poorly. I would have liked more of an exploration of the origins of Franklin's insatiably curious mind and astounding physical energy, but Morgan avoids the pitfalls of psycho-biography.
This is not a detailed biography, but a good first introduction to this giant of a man whose vitality, optimism and gregarious nature were emblematic of the new nation taking shape on the Western shore of the Atlantic. Highly recommended.

I first read Edmund Morgan’s The Puritan Dilemma over twenty-five years ago, and I remember at that time thinking it a dull and uninteresting book that I suffered through rather than enjoyed. Recently, though, I came across a copy in a thrift store, and seeing it inspired me to revisit it and reassess my prior conclusion. It didn’t take me along to feel ashamed for the callowness of my youthful judgment. The more I read the more impressed I was by Morgan’s penetrating assessments of his subject and his clever turns of phrase.

The John Winthrop of Morgan’s book is a man who struggled his entire life with the challenge imposed by his faith to exercise restraint in a world besmirched by sin. The son of Suffolk gentry, Winthrop grew up in a world of privilege. As a young man, he embraced Puritanism and was soon engaged with the problem of living a godly life amidst temptation. Morgan provides a nicely nuanced summary of Puritan beliefs, making it clear that it was not a faith of humorless scolds but one that accepted the pleasures of the world and encouraged their enjoyment in moderation. The Puritans’ opposition to the Catholic influences in the Church of England increasingly put them odds with the Stuart monarchs, however, leading many to seek an alternative.

The alternative they found was resettlement in the New World. As a prosperous landowner and legal official Winthrop was a natural choice to spearhead their efforts to establish a colony in New England, and he was among the initial shipload of passengers who crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the spring of 1630 to make a new home in the region. While Morgan provides an effective account of the tribulations of the early settlement, his main focus is on the governance of the colony, in which Winthrop played a major part. He characterizes his subject’s approach to government as a form of loose despotism, in which Winthrop and the other councilors of the Massachusetts Bay colony exercised a near-total dominance over the colony. As the newly elected governor, the burden fell on Winthrop’s shoulders, and Morgan provides a laudatory description of his achievements.

Morgan notes that Winthrop’s main challenge was in building not just a successful colony, but one that reflected Puritan values. While the colonists were expected to police the sin in their communities, Winthrop faced as well the possibility of a schism, which he went to considerable lengths to deter. Morgan paints this as a challenge similar to the one Winthrop dealt with in his personal life: that of striking a balance, in this case between liberal acceptance on one side and separatism on the other. It was in navigating this path that Winthrop dealt with the most famous controversies of his career, including those of the ultra-separatist Roger Williams and the trial of Anne Hutchinson. It was Winthrop’s light touch on many of these matters which opened him up to criticism from some of the more ambitious members of the colonial leadership, leading to periods out of governorship though never completely out of power.

Morgan relates all of this in a work that wears its erudition lightly. Though a short book, it benefits enormously from Morgan’s use of Winthrop’s papers and other contemporary sources. His explanation of the doctrinal disputes is admirably clear, and while his focus on colonial government and politics can sometimes bog down in the details it’s never irrelevant or uninformative. Despite its age, his book remains a valuable short biography of Winthrop and an effective introduction to the early years of the Massachusetts Bay colony. I’m just disappointed that it took me as long as it did to appreciate its core value and its many subtle charms.

This book doesn't deal so much with American slavery as it does with slavery in Virginia in colonial times, and the gist of the book seems to have been that none of the white Englishmen who arrived on our shores to set up colonies seemed to want to work very hard. They seem to have spent most of their time looking for others to do their hard labor for them - first with indentured servants, then with Native Americans, and finally with Africans - the latter decided on after observing the success of slavery on the Caribbean islands. Not a very enlightening book.

Virginia was the largest slave holding colony. Their lead on slavery and independence is what caused this democracy to embrace slavery. This book seeks to show how that came about. Starting with the failure of Roanoke through Jefferson there is a tension the author gets to the roots of. Well written and with notes where they should be, this is very readable

Still going at 86, Professor Morgan has just written a best selling biography of Benjamin Franklin. Pekarek provides a chapter by chapter analysis of Visible Saints. Published in the same year as Perry Miller died, the book is dedicated to him. In it Morgan deals with the history of the half way covenant, or the doctrine that church membership could be open to the faithful who had not yet made a public declaration of faith.

This is a short but incisive biography of one of the leaders of both Revolutionary America and the Enlightenment. Edmund Morgan highlights his contradictions that were evident in his difficult loyalty to revolutionary America, his scientific ventures, and his civic duties. This is a good place to start learning about the mind and life of one of America's first geniuses.

This book is not so much a history of slavery as it is an economic history of Colonial Virginia. In a sense, understanding the conditions of Colonial Virginia is important to understanding how this English community came to adopt chattel slavery based on race. But reading the book the topics vary far and wide from the concepts of slavery and their contrasts with the American ideals of freedom. In short, it's an interesting book albeit not necessarily the one I expected.½

Describes the dichotomy of religious liberty yet the desire for a legislated religious society.

This is a slender volume, book 2 in a series published by Colonial Williamsburg entitled "Williamsburg in America". This volume details home life in Virginia during the 18th century. The author clearly knows this topic. His prose was clear and easy to absorb, but not simplistic or patronizing. Many times I wished he would go deeper into a subject, only to remind myself this book was intended as an overview. I was able to download on my kindle several of Morgan's sources. I recommend this book as an excellent starting point for this topic. I think it would particularly serve young adults as a good source.½

I picked this book up in the store at the National Archies, which has a great selection of history books and DVD's. I've been wanting to read more Revolution Era history, so this seemed appropriate. Unfortunately, I found this to be very hard to read and difficult to put into perspective. It jumps right into the middle of Franklin's life, completely ignoring his childhood and family. It also focuses a bit too much on the people Franklin interacts with, rather than his actions. I did learn quite a bit about Franklin, the times and the other actors of the pre-Revolutionary War period, it did a good job at that. Unfortunately, because of the way it was written, I just found it very difficult to read more than a few pages at a sitting, which made it even more disjointed. I did get a good perspective of his attitudes and his approach to science and politics and his accomplishments.

My first take after beginning this book was the title is misleading. Not because it isn't about Benjamin Franklin, but that it is not simply a biography. But upon further reflection, the title is exactly what the book is about: who was Benjamin Franklin.

From a well respected biographer-historian, Edmund S. Morgan boils down the essence of the prolific Founding Father. More like a philosophical work, Mr. Morgan skips an introductory chapter and begins exploring Franklin's scientific work.

"What was he thinking?" is the currency this book trades on and unfortunately, Benjamin Franklin was efficient at compartmentalizing his personal and public lives. Morgan is honest in prefacing aspects of the statesman's that shall remain mysteries.

Written in a manner allowing any reader to understand, only those familiar with Franklin's life will appreciate the scrutiny given one of America's finest scientist, humorist, printer, and politician.

This was too dry to be a good read. The title was fascinating to me, the contents were not.

Morgan has a long and distinguished pedigree as an American historian. This book is one of his earliest works and it isn't his best. It's a light, quick read about the preludes to the Revolutionary War, the war itself, the adoption of the Articles of Confederation and ultimately the creation of the national, federal government with the politically-charged ratification of the Constitution.
It's a lively read for the big easy picture of the chronology of birth of the republic.
However, Morgan collapses and obscures too much detail in the interest of brevity. He bravely and vainly insists, to the point of very annoying repetition, that the "principle of human equality" was a defining bulwark of the formation of our national government and national consciousness. Repeatedly, he offers details about events and protagonists that give the lie to his misguided anchoring of the "human equality" concept.
In the hands of a wise professor, this could be a useful reference book to set the stage for discussion of the events of 1763-1789.
It is a dangerously and deceptively simplified book for a general readership.
It's a repeatedly annoying book for a student who has at least a generally informed familiarity with the events of 18763-1789, which played out in a less "principled" scenario than the one glossily described by Prof. Morgan.
Read more on my blog: http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/

Enjoyed this as I continue to read more about this country's founding fathers. I find Mr. Franklin almost as interesting as Thomas Jefferson. Now, while I appreciated an easy to read biography, I found the way the author clustered certain forward and backward looking comments from a point of time in Franklin's life took a bit of getting used to. Stylistically not my preference, but I got used to it. Worth a look as a first read in to Franklin's life.½

This was my first Edmund Morgan book and I enjoyed it thoroughly. He is clearly an academic, his writing is somewhat weighty and took me a little longer to read than other history books.

American Heroes is a collection of essays which span about six decades of authorship; there are several themes from the '40s and 50's, one from as recent as 2005 and a couple of previously unpublished pieces. The notions of American "heroes" span pre-colonial times and discuss the travels of Christopher Columbus and ends with modern pieces highlighting George Washington and Ben Franklin. He includes several essays dealing with witchcraft and others dispelling myths regarding the Puritans. Less interesting for me was an essay detailing the differences in leadership between Timothy Dwight and his predecessor, Ezra Stiles as presidents of Yale in 1795. Morgan's 30-page biography of William Penn primarily delves into Penn's religious beliefs and the basis of Quakerism.

A point of contention I have with some other reviews of this book and those like it (essay collections of historical figures) is the bemoaning of the "biographies" being "too short" or not being "in depth." What does one expect from a two- to three-hundred page book? These essays provide a great deal of information as well as providing the reader an idea if a topic or person would be of more interest. As well, I likely would never have heard of either Giles Corey or Mary Easty; a man and women executed during the witch trials of the mid to late seventeenth century. I couldn't possibly imagine how thick this book would be if everyone discussed within its covers were given an exhaustive biography each!

Not short on information or research, this book contains essays which can be long winded or just too lengthy for subject matter of little interest to me; as for the topics of interest, the depth of the essays are great.

I was looking forward to this book because the concept seemed pretty interesting. The relationship between the American founding principle of freedom and the harsh contradiction of slavery has always fascinated me. I thought this book would give me some insight into the subject, but I'm sorry to say that the book had little to do with slavery or freedom, at least as far as I could tell. While it was a nice chronicle of the early struggles of the Virginian settlers and the tobacco industry there, it didn't mention slavery or the value of freedom of the settlers that often. It would have been better titled "Jamestown: 1550 to 1700"

A small concise book describing the Puritan beliefs and society as it related to the family. It was very clear, enlightening, giving me a much clearer picture of everyday life in Puritan Society than I've gathered from any other source.

This powerful book leads the reader through the degrading time of slavery and the efforts required to end it. I would recommend this book to anyone who would desire an insight into the mind of the slave owner and the courage of those who would destroy that horrible mark on America's history.

I came away with a great appreciation for John Winthrop as, of all things, an effective moderate political leader. I now want to dig deeper into his life to see if that view holds. I'm also intrigued by the approach and style of the author (Edmund S. Morgan), and the larger series this book is a part of (Library of American Biography).

As a researcher, this book offers the best picture window I have seen in a long time into the world in which I have been wandering for the past few years. Cloth merchants, opportunities occasioned by the misfortunes of others, the inequities between the first son and all of the other children in families at this time as well as the motivations and hesitancies of those people who crossed the ocean to almost certain death sooner or later (but usually sooner) are all laid out here for our inspection. Very readable, taking you inside their home where you can feel the weight of life and world-changing choices that need to be made as well as the personal joys and disappointments of everyday family life in any age.

Could have been great but didn't really cover 'heros'. It was a bunch of his lectures strung together