Edmund S Morgan: 14 books

An illuminating portrait of the nation's earliest—and most passionate—advocate for the total separation of church and state. A classic of its kind, Edmund S. Morgan's Roger Williams skillfully depicts the intellectual life of the man who, after his expulsion in 1635 from the Massachusetts...

This volume presents an eminent historian's progress over thirty years in trying to understand the American Revolution. Here is the historian at his best—beginning with the assumption that things are not always as they appear to be, delighting in the discovery of the previously unknown, and offering...

"A masterly quarter-century of commentary on the discipline of American history."—Allen D. Boyer, New York Times Book Review "This book amounts to an intellectual autobiography....These pieces are thus a statement of what I have thought about early Americans during nearly seventy...

More than any other single man, George Washington was responsible for bringing success to the American Revolution. But because of the heroic image in which we have cast him and which already enveloped him in this own lifetime, Washington is and was a hard man to know. In this book Edmund S....

“The best short biography of Franklin ever written.”-Gordon S. WoodBenjamin Franklin is perhaps the most remarkable figure in American history: the greatest statesman of his age, he played a pivotal role in the formation of the American republic. He was also a pioneering scientist, a bestselling author,...

First published in 1952, this is historian Edmund S. Morgan’s second book on family life in the American colonies. An informative, well-researched and well written book, Morgan sketches the day-to-day life of colonial Virginians. From the planters of the Tidewater to the Scotch-Irish and German...

In The Birth of the Republic, 1763–89, Edmund S. Morgan shows how the challenge of British taxation started Americans on a search for constitutional principles to protect their freedom, and eventually led to the Revolution. By demonstrating that the founding fathers’ political philosophy was not...

"Thoughtful, suggestive and highly readable."—New York Times Book Review "If it is possible to understand the American paradox, the marriage of slavery and freedom, Virginia is surely the place to begin," writes Edmund S. Morgan in American Slavery, American Freedom, a...

While Morgan’s literary portfolio shows remarkable diversity, it is studded with works on Puritanism. “Visible Saints” further solidifies his reputation as a leading authority on this subject. An expanded version of his Anson G. Phelps Lectures of 1962 (presented at New York University),...

"A wise, humane and beautifully written book." —Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal From the best-selling author of Benjamin Franklin comes this remarkable work that will help redefine our notion of American heroism. Americans have long been obsessed with their heroes, but the men...

'Impressive! . . . The authors have given us a searching account of the crisis and provided some memorable portraits of officials in America impaled on the dilemma of having to enforce a measure which they themselves opposed.'--New York Times 'A brilliant contribution to the colonial field....

This comprehensive documentary source book on the Stamp Act provides a case-study approach to American colonial history and serves as a problems source book on the key event in Anglo-American relations in the 1760s. Morgan has assembled sixty-five crucial documents on all phases of the crisis; on...

Now available again, this important biography of the early New England intellectual leader was greeted as a "landmark in the history of the American mind" by Clifford K. Shipton when it appeared in 1962. Stiles lived at a critical time--the transition from the Reformation to the Enlightenment,...

"The best explanation that I have seen for our distinctive combination of faith, hope and naiveté concerning the governmental process." —Michael Kamman, Washington Post This book makes the provocative case here that America has remained politically stable because the Founding Fathers...