History 248 Reading Guide
The Puritan Family and the Well-Ordered Community
- John Demos, A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony (1970; 2nd edition 2000).
- Guidelines for Writing a Critical Analysis of a Primary Document
- History 248: Primary Document Collections (all collections are on reserve in the library)
Questions:
- How does Demos structure his account? What is the significance of the particular sequence of his presentation?
- What kind of evidence does he use and analyze? What do his sources reveal, and what do they obscure? Which evidence do you find most, and least, persuasive?
- Toward what kind of argument about change in family life is he building?
- What do you make of the minimal emphasis on change in his account?
- What does this book tell us about the historical profession in 1970?
