The Puritan Origins of American Sex: Religion, Sexuality, and National Identity in American Literature

Covering all new ground in the scholarship of religion and sexuality, the contributors address the Puritan and Protestant roots of American sexual identity and culture. Offering both historical and interdisciplinary breadth, the volume charts the influence of Protestantism on the shaping of the American character from Cotton Mather to Kenneth Starr. From witch trials to pickaxe murderers, from brothels to convents, and from slavery to Toni Morrison'sParadise,these essays provide fascinating and provocative insights into our sexual and religious conventions and beliefs.