Review
Authorizing the Past is the first book-length analysis of 27th century Puritan histories and demonstrates the growing professionalism and sophistication of New England historiography as a genre in its own right. Stephen Arch focuses on rhetorical strategies, narrative techniques and evidentiary conventions to show how the progression of history developed in the first seventy years of settlement in New England. Tracing patterns of historical and literary change, Arch analyzes successive texts to document a gradual but fundamental shift in the way New England historians understood themselves and their community. Arch concludes that narrative histories are fictional constructs designed to effect changes in their audiences and the societies in which they live. Authorizing the Past will engage anyone inters4ted in the convergence between history and fiction, as well as students of colonial American literature, history and culture. -- Midwest Book Review
