The Puritan origins of the American self

âPerhaps the most penetrating examination yet published of âthe sources of our obsessive concern with the meaning of America.âââJack P. Greene, History

âThe most valuable achievement in colonial American literature since the best work of Perry Miller.ââDavid Levin, William and Mary Quarterly

âA brave and brilliant bookâ¦that is the most significant and far-reaching contribution to the theory of American literature in recent years.ââAlan Trachtenberg, Partisan Review

âA 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.ââJohn F. Wilson, Theology Today

â[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.ââMichael Zuckerman, Early American Literature