Prospero's America
Subtitle: John Winthrop, Jr., alchemy, and the creation of New England culture, 1606-1676
By: Walter W. Woodward.
Contributors: Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture.
Publisher: Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture by the University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Chapel Hill
Language: eng
Number of pages: 326
ISBN-13: 9780807833018; 9781469600871
Subjects: Winthrop, John, -- 1606-1676; Winthrop, John, -- 1606-1676; Alchemists -- New England -- Biography; Alchemy -- New England -- History -- 17th century; Alchemy -- New England -- Biography; Famous Persons -- New England -- Biography; History, Modern 1601- -- New England
Genres: Biography
Description: John Winthrop, Jr. participated in a pan-European network of natural philosophers who believed alchemy could improve the human condition and hasten Christ's Second Coming. Walter Woodward demonstrates how Winthrop and his philosophy influenced New England's cultural formation: its settlement, economy, religious toleration, Pequot Indian relations, medical practice, witchcraft prosecution, and imperial diplomacy. Prospero's America reconceptualizes the significance of early modern science in shaping New England hand in hand with Puritanism and politics.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: John Winthrop, Jr., and the European alchemical movement of the early seventeenth century; title: The republic of alchemy and the pansophic moment; title: Founding a new London; title: Which man's land? Conflict and competition in pequot country; title: Alchemical vision refined; title: "God's secret": John Winthrop, Jr., alchemical healing, and the medical culture of early New England; title: The magus as mediator: witchcraft, alchemy, and authority in the Connecticut witch-hunt of the 1660s; title: "Matters of present utility:" John Winthrop, Jr., the Royal Society, and the politics of intelligence in restoration New England.