The Puritan Origins of the American Self

“Perhaps the most penetrating examination yet published of ‘the sources of our obsessive concern with the meaning of America.â€â€â€”Jack P. Greene, History“The most valuable achievement in colonial American literature since the best work of Perry Miller.â€â€”David Levin, William and Mary Quarterly“A brave and brilliant book…that is the most significant and far-reaching contribution to the theory of American literature in recent years.â€â€”Alan Trachtenberg, Partisan Review“A study which reaches with daring ease from the Bible and Augustine to Emerson and Whitman… [and] offers an agenda for the next several decades of scholarly work on colonial religious studies.â€â€”John F. Wilson, Theology Today“[Bercovitch] casts a dazzling light on the myth of America and the conundrums of individuality and community that are the core of the American character.â€â€”Michael Zuckerman, Early American Literature