The Last American Puritan

By Michael G. Hall,

Book cover of The Last American Puritan: The Life of Increase Mather

Book description

Powerful preacher, political negotiator for New England in the halls of Parliament, president of Harvard, father of Cotton Mather, Increase Mather was the epitome of the American Puritan. He was the most important spokesman of his generation for Congregationalism and became the last American Puritan of consequence as the seventeenth…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked The Last American Puritan as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Hall's biography of one of the most influential Puritans in colonial New England offers a rich reading experience. Mather had a finger in everything, and seeing New England through his eyes helps the reader make sense of the political and religious factions, doctrinal struggles, the relationship between lay people and ministers (always less conservative than their followers), and the sweetness and suffering inherent in family life.

From Jenny's list on seventeenth-century America.

Want books like The Last American Puritan?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Last American Puritan.

Browse books like The Last American Puritan

Book cover of American Slavery, American Freedom
Book cover of Prospero's America: John Winthrop, Jr., Alchemy, and the Creation of New England Culture, 1606-1676
Book cover of Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,188

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Colonial America, the Puritans, and Massachusetts?

Colonial America 52 books
The Puritans 36 books
Massachusetts 147 books