A NEW ENGLAND TOWN THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS

by Kenneth A. Lockridge ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1969

John Demos' A Little Commonwealth (p. 1180) debunked some of the social myths about Plymouth colony family life, and now Kenneth Lockridge takes a crack at the political myths surrounding that pristine popular institution the New England Town. By exploring the historical evolution of a representative town, Dedham, Massachusetts, from its inception in 1636 as a village of several hundred through its first century of existence, Lockridge demonstrates that libertarian society in America actually developed slowly and indirectly; it was not until the second fifty years of town life that the peasant-Puritan corporate impulse which generated at best a democracy of homogeneity began gradually to give way to a pluralist democracy embracing social diversity and political dissent. An interesting study written in straightforward investigative style.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1969

ISBN: 0393954595

Page Count: -

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION