Puritans at Play: Leisure and Recreation in Early New England

by Bruce C. Daniels

Book Overview

'It is rare for a book to be both erudite and amusing at the same time, and this book has succeeded. It has changed the common but unacceptable image of the Puritans as dull, solemn, melancholy misanthropes' - Horton Davies, author of The Worship of the American Puritans For over four centuries, 'puritan' has been a synonym for dour, joyless, and repressed. In Puritans at Play, Bruce Daniels reappraises the accuracy of this grim portrait by examining...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312125003
• ISBN13: 9780312125004
• Release Date: August 1995
• Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
• Length: 271 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A warm portrait of a people misunderstood.

I'd not known much about the Puritans before, but this book really opened my heart to them. Here we have a hard working, disciplined people, whose major fault seemed to be how unforgiving their strict lifestyle seemed. Daniels puts to bed (for the most part) many misconceptions about drinking, sex, music, dancing, gambling, gaming etc., without destroying much of what makes Puritanism admirable. His style is accomplished considering that the subject matter is not always easy to deal with (theater proved a dry subject), and his analysis is deep yet conversational, inviting the reader to consider each matter on several different levels. There is even humor to be found within, albeit observational: Michael Wigglesworth's reaction to a flapping barn door is priceless. I would recommend this book heartily to any person doing research on the subject, as it will bring the living, breathing people themselves into far more familiar territory, and to any layman merely curious about "the Puritan who stopped off at the tavern for a glass of beer after work, made love that night, and went to church the next day with a clear conscience..."

An excellent guide to the inner workings of Puritan society

This book gives alot of information about the Puritan mindset and how Puritans spent their time. It clears up alot of myths and common misconceptions about the people and the time period. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the founders of the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth settlements, as well as though who are seeking further understanding to what may seem confusing and mundane. This book gives an entertaining look at an otherwise bland subject.

Excellent book that humanizes the Puritans

The popular American view of Puritans is usually something out of Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter." That is, a bleak, dreary group of religious fanatics who take themselves entirely too seriously. While they did take their religion very seriously (your life on earth does determine whether you will spend eternity in heaven or hell, after all; it's best not to take chances), they did have fun. Bruce Daniels does an excellent job researching the relationship between Puritans and fun: What did they do?; How much time did they spend doing it?; What DIDN'T they do that might surprise us?; Did some groups have fun one way while others had fun another way?; and the all important question for historians: Why?Two themes run through Daniels' work: the Puritan ideal with regards to fun is that recreational activities should a) not be sinful b) give one rest so that he or she can serve the Lord more efficiently c) be productive and d) not be an end unto itself. The second theme that runs through "Puritans at Play" is that, while the first generation of Puritans in America came pretty close to this ideal, as the years went on and New England became more heterogeneous, the ideal had great influence, but was viewed more as a guideline for recreation as opposed to a matter so grave as to have long-lasting (read: eternal) implications.In this amazingly well-researched book, Daniels analyzed how reading (the ideal recreational activity in Puritan America), music, church related activities, public gatherings (such as public hangings or military training days), dancing, eating, sex, bars, gambling, and sports (among others) fit into both the Puritan ideal and the Puritan reality.The beauty of this book is that Daniels tackles such an all-encompasing subject with apparent ease. I feel he has accomplished the goal he mentions in his preface, to write a book suitable for both the serious scholar and the recreational historian (although my one complaint is that his first chapter made for dry, difficult reading). From Chapter Two on, Daniels introduces the reader to Puritans on their own ground, always making sure to put things in a cultural context. I would definately recommend it to fellow amateur historians.

Puritans at Play: not a contradiction in terms!

Of all the groups in American history, the Puritans still have the biggest bum rap of them all. H.L. Mencken articulated this false view perfectly when he defined a Puritan as someone who laid awake at night, fretting that somebody, somewhere, was having a good time. While the Puritans did have strong beliefs over the appropriateness of certain entertainments (such as the theater, which they banned as a place of lies and the breeding ground of crime), they did believe that God intended there to be joy in life as well. One of their greatest joys was sex: so long as it was within marriage, the Puritans believed sex was necessary, wonderful, and to be practiced often. Indeed, when one man refused to have sex with his wife, he was excommunicated from the Church! Bruce Daniels' much-needed volume on leisure and recreation in colonial New England fills up a hole in our historical awareness of this intense group. I loved this book, almost as much as I loved Edmund Morgan's book, "The Puritan Family." This one is not to be missed by history buffs!