The Correspondence of John Cotton

“The letters in The Correspondence of John Cotton deepen our knowledge of Cotton’s life and times.” — William and Mary Quarterly

“Scholars of 17th-century New England have eagerly awaited the publication of this definitive edition of the letters of John Cotton, Massachusetts Bay’s most prominent first-generation minister. . . . The editing is impeccable and the scholarship prodigious. . . . Any institution offering courses in Colonial American history or literature will need this major contribution to the documentary history of early New England.” — CHOICE

“Though John Cotton is the focus of this collection, Bush’s study illuminates transatlantic Puritanism and Puritan literary culture more broadly. . . . It is clear that Bush’s enormous project of manuscript tracking, paleography, transcription, and annotation was a labor of love. The book that has emerged from this labor is a treasure.” — Early American Literature

“How provocative, how valuable is Bush’s marvelous edition of the letters. . . . The Correspondence of John Cotton is a rich scholarly resource, a glowing testament to Bush’s decade of painstaking research, and quite simply a model of its kind.” — Seventeenth-Century News

“Sargent Bush Jr.’s herculean labors of source hunting, paleography, and annotation have produced an indispensable treasure trove of a book for scholars of Puritanism. The Correspondence of John Cotton sheds new light on the dangerous, rapidly changing worlds of Cotton and his correspondents while making Cotton’s exalted contemporary reputation finally comprehensible.” — Michael Winship, University of Georgia

“An outstanding achievement of scholarly devotion and determination. . . . This book gives us a more vivid sense than was previously possible of the mind and heart of New England’s leading theologian and minister during the first years of settlement. The result is a genuine contribution to knowledge for which everyone interested in the formative years of American culture will be grateful.” — Andrew Delbanco, Columbia University

“Sargent Bush’s extraordinary edition of all of John Cotton’s extant correspondence will renew and redirect debates about the enigmatic Puritan preacher and the transatlantic intellectual world in which he played such a central role. . . . A signal contribution to Cotton scholarship, transatlantic Puritan studies, and colonial cultural studies.” — Teresa Toulouse, Tulane University

“Students of transatlantic Puritanism stand deep in debt to Bush for this superbly achieved collection. Its multifaceted materials shed bright new light on Cotton’s central role and wide influence as counselor, arbiter, and teacher.” — Michael McGiffert