Insubordinate Spirit

A True Story Of Life And Loss In Earliest America 1610-1665

By (author) Missy Wolfe

Paperback - £12.99

Publication date:

02 December 2012

Length of book:

272 pages

Publisher

Globe Pequot

ISBN-13: 9780762780402

Insubordinate Spirit is a unique exploration into the life of Elizabeth Winthrop and other seventeenth-century English Puritans who emigrated to the rough, virtually untouched wilderness of present-day New England. Excerpts from newly discovered personal diaries and correspondence provide readers with not only fascinating insights into the hardships, dangers, and losses inherent to English and Dutch settlers in the 1600s, but also first-hand descriptions of the local Native Americans' family life, allegiances, and society. Caught between the unendurable expectations of her Puritan relatives and land disputes with the neighboring Dutch, Elizabeth Winthrop demonstrated a tremendous strength of resolve to protect her own family and remain true to her heart.
“Missy Wolfe’s work is an important contribution to the literature of New Netherland.”
Dr. Charles Gehring, Director, The New Netherland Research Center
 
“Wolfe has the rare ability to glean rich and engaging stories of real people from centuries-old archival sources.”
Ondine Le Blanc
Director of Publications, Massachusetts Historical Society
 
“Missy Wolfe's work on Greenwich's earliest history has made a huge contribution to our understanding of this complex period in time wrapped in so much Romanticism.”
Debra Mecky, Ph.D., Executive Director, Greenwich Historical Society
 
“Extremely informative and corrects a lot of folklore.”
Ron Marcus, Stamford Historical Society
 
“The real treasure of this work is the uncovering of the lost world of the New Netherland / New England borderlands. Wolfe's focus on Elizabeth lets her get at this in a way that the majority of accounts, which focus on men, miss."
Evan Haefeli, Associate Professor of History, Columbia University