Doctrine and Difference

The enduring power of many antebellum American texts trace their inspiration to Puritanism. From Melville''s preposterous but irresponsible quarrels with God to Hawthorne''s instructed yet edgy evocations of earlier New England, to Dickinson''s finely turned little blasphemies. Can one imagine that such texts were written anywhere but in the latter days of Puritanism? Doctrine and Difference shows...