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.’”—Jack P. Greene,History“The most valuable achievement in colonial American literature since the best work of Perry Miller.”—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.”—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.”—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.”—Michael Zuckerman,Early American Literature