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