A Rational Millennium

Puritan Utopias of Seventeenth-Century England and America

Bibliographic Data

ID3467045
AuthorsJoy Gilsdorf, James Holstun (Tulane University)
Year1989
Volume46
Issue2
Pages382
Publication date1989-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe William and Mary Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0043-5597 • E-ISSN: 1933-7698
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1920262
OpenAlexW2095913637
LanguageEN
Citations received12

Taking a new approach to the history of utopia, this volume combines the political study of literary form with the literary study of political rhetoric. After arguing that early modern utopists, both literary and non-literary, attempt to reshape displaced populations, Holstun concentrates on two utopian projects of the mid-17th century: the political platforms and Algonquin praying towns of John Eliot in Massachusetts and the republican political theory of James Harrington in Protectorate England. Moving between these projects and modern analyses of rationalization, he shows that Puritan utopia shares the modern Western longing for universal social discipline and that it envisions this discipline as the rational means to the Millennium

Ancient history · Economic history · New england · Political science · Politics · History · Law · Political Economy and Marxism

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