Adams, Brooks - Major Works
Major Works
Adams published several articles and reviews before his first history, The Emancipation of Massachusetts (1887). In it, Adams attacked the hagiographic depictions of the Protestant forefathers of New England. He argued that previous depictions of early New England founders were untrue and that, instead of fostering democratic virtues, the founders engendered a climate of religious intolerance. The book was perceived as controversial in its time, and much was made of the unbalanced nature of Adams's presentation. Adams's defended his work to Henry Cabot Lodge: "It is really not a history of Mass. but a metaphysical and philosophical inquiry as to the actions of the human mind in the progress of civilization; illustrated by the history of a small community isolated and allowed to work itself free. This is not an attempt to break down the Puritans or to abuse the clergy, but to follow out the action of the human mind as we do of the human body. I...
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