Prospero's America
John Winthrop, Jr., Alchemy, and the Creation of New England Culture, 1606-1676
By Walter W. Woodward
336 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 9 halftones, 1 maps, notes, index
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Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4696-0087-1
Published: February 2013 -
eBook ISBN: 978-0-8078-9593-1
Published: June 2011
Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press
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Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press
Awards & distinctions
2011 Homer D. Babbidge Jr. Award, Association for the Study of Connecticut History
A 2010 Choice Outstanding Academic Title
About the Author
Walter W. Woodward is Connecticut state historian and associate professor of history at the University of Connecticut.
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Reviews
"In his fine biography . . . Woodward's portrait of the younger Winthrop illuminates a particularly rich seventeenth-century life; one that clearly strides in the direction of the Enlightenment, if it does not have one foot there already."--Times Literary Supplement
"[A] wide ranging study. . . . An excellent, adventurous introduction to the place of alchemy in early New England culture and by far the best scholarly integration of Winthrop's alchemical interests with his other pursuits."--American Historical Review
"A milestone in the study of John Winthrop Jr. . . . A first-rate study that radically changes our understanding of the younger Winthrop."--Journal of American History
"The story is good, revealing how the scientific method emerged from empirical alchemy and giving a brilliant new interpretation of Winthrop's supposed change in attitude toward colonial potentials in his later years."--Early American Life
"Woodward has written two books in one--a new biography of John Winthrop Jr. and a groundbreaking examination of the importance of alchemy in the first decades of New England's settlement. . . . An important contribution."--New England Quarterly
"In a strikingly alchemical mixture, this book combines politics, economics, science, industry, warfare, and religion, and manages to create that most treasured of prizes--a fascinating portrait of a man who, while not unknown, is not as well known as perhaps is appropriate. . . . Readers will find many of their assumptions about Puritan New England challenged and ultimately revised. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice