Builders of the Bay Colony [Paperback]

Samuel Eliot Morison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2004

1930. Sketches of some of the individuals who came out of Old England to begin the New, written by Morison, Pulitzer Prize-winning Professor of History in Harvard. Contents: Promoters and Precursors: Richard Hakluyt, Captain John Smith, and Morton of Merrymount; Master John White, of Dorchester; John Winthrop, Esquire; Master Thomas Shepard; John Hull of Boston, Goldsmith; Henry Dunster, President of Harvard; Nathaniel Ward, Lawmaker and Wit; Robert Child, Remonstrant; John Winthrop, Jr., Industrial Pioneer; John Eliot, Apostle to the Indians; and Mistress Anne Bradstreet. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 460 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1417909072
• ISBN-13: 978-1417909070
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,395,245 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written book on the early Massachusetts colony, September 5, 2007

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Builders of the Bay Colony (Paperback)

Samuel Eliot Morison paints a pretty detailed and accurate picture of what life was like during the first few decades of settlement in Massachusetts in the 1600s. He does this by presenting biographies of about a dozen important figures during that time and place, representing a cross-section of the colony: Governor John Winthrop, goldsmith and businessman John Hull, first president of Harvard Henry Dunster, theologian Thomas Shepard, missionary to the Indians and Bible translator into Algonkin John Eliot, poetess Anne Bradstreet, and lawmaker Nathaniel Ward are a few. Morison breaks with the revisionist view of 1930 when the book was first published and as presented by historian J. Truslow Adams that few of the earliest settlers were actually Puritans; he sides with the earlier view that indeed most were. Morison quotes heavily from the original Puritan documents, many of which are highly entertaining as well as being informative. Morison is of an older school of historical writing where scholarship is, of course, important, but so is literary skill: he is authoritative and able to relate a clever or witty observation at the same time. He is, therefore, a pleasure to read. I recommend the 2nd edition in that it adds a profile of fur trader and frontier official William Pynchon not found in the 1st edition.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Thorough, in more ways then one, June 24, 2004

By 

M. Buisman (Amstelveen, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Builders of the Bay Colony (Paperback)

I would not read this book if you have never read any other books on the History of early New England. It is very densely written and with the many sentences you sometimes lose sight about what really happened.

When you do decide to read this thoroughly (and it will take a long time) it becomes more interesting. The book is a collection of biographies of important people in 17th century New England that made the region what it was and still is today. It is an attempt to pierce into the Puritan mind and he has succeeded.

Interesting for those already interested, but unreadable for people who do not know a lot.