John Gorham Palfrey was a historian of the Puritan experience in America. His History of New England (1858-1890) was an encyclopedic study of the political, intellectual, religious, and social origins of the region from its discovery by Europeans to the eve of the American Revolution. He was also a biblical scholar and abolitionist writer. As a contributor to the North American Review, Palfrey was a careful but keen critic of American history and literature. His numerous articles for that journal testify to his catholic interests and skills in belles lettres.

Despite the fact that scholars neglect Palfrey at the present time, his History of New England addressed all of the historical questions perennially examined by students of colonial America. As an intellectual historian he investigated Puritan theology and church history as well as the transference of English culture to the New World. His understanding of the Puritan mind...