Abraham in Arms

War and Gender in Colonial New England

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, Colonial Period (1600-1775), Revolutionary Period (1775-1800)
Cover of the book Abraham in Arms by Ann M. Little, University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ann M. Little ISBN: 9780812202649
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. Publication: March 1, 2013
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press Language: English
Author: Ann M. Little
ISBN: 9780812202649
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication: March 1, 2013
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press
Language: English

In 1678, the Puritan minister Samuel Nowell preached a sermon he called "Abraham in Arms," in which he urged his listeners to remember that "Hence it is no wayes unbecoming a Christian to learn to be a Souldier." The title of Nowell's sermon was well chosen. Abraham of the Old Testament resonated deeply with New England men, as he embodied the ideal of the householder-patriarch, at once obedient to God and the unquestioned leader of his family and his people in war and peace. Yet enemies challenged Abraham's authority in New England: Indians threatened the safety of his household, subordinates in his own family threatened his status, and wives and daughters taken into captivity became baptized Catholics, married French or Indian men, and refused to return to New England.

In a bold reinterpretation of the years between 1620 and 1763, Ann M. Little reveals how ideas about gender and family life were central to the ways people in colonial New England, and their neighbors in New France and Indian Country, described their experiences in cross-cultural warfare. Little argues that English, French, and Indian people had broadly similar ideas about gender and authority. Because they understood both warfare and political power to be intertwined expressions of manhood, colonial warfare may be understood as a contest of different styles of masculinity. For New England men, what had once been a masculinity based on household headship, Christian piety, and the duty to protect family and faith became one built around the more abstract notions of British nationalism, anti-Catholicism, and soldiering for the Empire.

Based on archival research in both French and English sources, court records, captivity narratives, and the private correspondence of ministers and war officials, Abraham in Arms reconstructs colonial New England as a frontier borderland in which religious, cultural, linguistic, and geographic boundaries were permeable, fragile, and contested by Europeans and Indians alike.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In 1678, the Puritan minister Samuel Nowell preached a sermon he called "Abraham in Arms," in which he urged his listeners to remember that "Hence it is no wayes unbecoming a Christian to learn to be a Souldier." The title of Nowell's sermon was well chosen. Abraham of the Old Testament resonated deeply with New England men, as he embodied the ideal of the householder-patriarch, at once obedient to God and the unquestioned leader of his family and his people in war and peace. Yet enemies challenged Abraham's authority in New England: Indians threatened the safety of his household, subordinates in his own family threatened his status, and wives and daughters taken into captivity became baptized Catholics, married French or Indian men, and refused to return to New England.

In a bold reinterpretation of the years between 1620 and 1763, Ann M. Little reveals how ideas about gender and family life were central to the ways people in colonial New England, and their neighbors in New France and Indian Country, described their experiences in cross-cultural warfare. Little argues that English, French, and Indian people had broadly similar ideas about gender and authority. Because they understood both warfare and political power to be intertwined expressions of manhood, colonial warfare may be understood as a contest of different styles of masculinity. For New England men, what had once been a masculinity based on household headship, Christian piety, and the duty to protect family and faith became one built around the more abstract notions of British nationalism, anti-Catholicism, and soldiering for the Empire.

Based on archival research in both French and English sources, court records, captivity narratives, and the private correspondence of ministers and war officials, Abraham in Arms reconstructs colonial New England as a frontier borderland in which religious, cultural, linguistic, and geographic boundaries were permeable, fragile, and contested by Europeans and Indians alike.

More books from University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.

Cover of the book Porta Palazzo by Ann M. Little
Cover of the book Used Books by Ann M. Little
Cover of the book Against the Wall by Ann M. Little
Cover of the book Dearest Wilding by Ann M. Little
Cover of the book Town Born by Ann M. Little
Cover of the book A Knight's Own Book of Chivalry by Ann M. Little
Cover of the book Why Education Is Useless by Ann M. Little
Cover of the book New Age Capitalism by Ann M. Little
Cover of the book The Jews of Eastern Europe, 1772-1881 by Ann M. Little
Cover of the book Of Gardens by Ann M. Little
Cover of the book The London Bombings by Ann M. Little
Cover of the book The Invention of Peter by Ann M. Little
Cover of the book Ceramics by Ann M. Little
Cover of the book Deborah and Her Sisters by Ann M. Little
Cover of the book The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 2 by Ann M. Little
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy