Customer Reviews

New England's Generation: The Great Migration and the Formation of Society and Culture in the Seventeenth Century

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This book was a fascinating exposure of the "Great Migration", as it has been called, the New England immigration, that lastest less than 10 years, from 1630 to 1640. This migration was "great" in the minds of the people who made the journey, even though it was the smaller in duration and numbers of people, than any other region of American colonization. It was "great" in their minds because of the religious motivations. The follows the immigrants from the decision to immigrate, the trip over, settling in the new country, and continues on to the the second generation and the desire of the first generation to impress on them the values that they had come over with. The book is a fascinating look at what life was like for these early immigrants, illustrated with real life people, including a few of my ancestors. The book is well documented with a combination of historical and genealogical sources. The book is engaging and extremely well written.

I found this to be excellent background material to read while working on my family genealogy of this period. It gave a third dimension to my understanding of who these people were and what they sought in the New World.