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A Cotton Mather Reader

By Cotton Mather
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
A Cotton Mather Reader offers an authoritative selection of writings from one of early America’s most significant and prolific authors, Cotton Mather (1663–1728). Known for his vast contributions to history, medicine, theology, and literature, this volume presents a diverse range of Mather’s work including autobiography, New England history, gender and education, natural science, biblical interpretation, the Salem witch trials, race and slavery, Native American relations, and pietism. This comprehensive collection serves both scholars and students, shedding new light on Mather’s complex legacy beyond his reputation as a mere witch hunter.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$4499
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

A Cotton Mather Reader is ideal for scholars, students, and readers interested in early American history, Puritan theology, colonial society, and the Salem witch trials. It appeals to those seeking a complex understanding of the period’s cultural and intellectual currents through the work of a pivotal figure.

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An authoritative selection of the writings of one of the most important early American writers

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

An authoritative selection of the writings of one of the most important early American writers

“A brilliant collection that reveals the extraordinary range of Cotton Mather’s interests and contributions—by far the best introduction to the mind of the Puritan divine.”—Francis J. Bremer, author of Lay Empowerment and the Development of Puritanism

Cotton Mather (1663–1728) has a wide presence in American culture, but very few people have ever read a significant portion of his work. The sheer volume of Mather’s corpus makes it challenging. In his sixty-five years, he was responsible for some of the most important contributions to history, medicine, and theology in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, in addition to having written some 450 books and pamphlets, hundreds of sermons, and thousands of letters.

This wide-ranging volume includes topical selections on autobiography and meditation; New England history; gender, childrearing, and education; natural science and medicine; mercantilism and paper money; biblical interpretation; Salem witchcraft; race, slavery, and servitude; Native Americans and captivity; and pietism, world missions, and millennialism.

A Cotton Mather Reader will serve as both a reference for scholars and a textbook for students and should help bring renewed attention to this important figure.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised by Mark Noll of the University of Notre Dame for its thorough scholarship and mastery of Mather’s writings, this reader is seen as a crucial step in rehabilitating Mather’s intellectual legacy. Mark Petersen commends it as a remarkable achievement that presents a complete and nuanced portrait of Mather—not just as a Salem witch hunter but as a sophisticated intellectual engaged deeply in the political, economic, and social issues of colonial America. The collection reveals the contradictions of his time embodied in his life and work.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780300260182

Publisher: Yale University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 23 August 2022

Country: United States

Imprint: Yale University Press

Illustration: 6 b-w illus.

Contributors:

  • Edited by Kenneth P. Minkema
  • Edited by Reiner Smolinski

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 22.0mm

Width: 156.0mm

Height: 235.0mm

Weight: 300g

Pages: 432

Collections

American & Canadian History Arts & Culture Biography & Memoir Cotton Mather History & Archaeology History & Military Journals Non-Fiction Religion & Spirituality Stationery

About the Author

Reiner Smolinski is professor of English at Georgia State University and general editor of Cotton Mather’s Biblia Americana. Kenneth P. Minkema is editor of The Works of Jonathan Edwards and director of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University.

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