Pulitzer Prize History Winner
Puritan Village: The Formation of a New England Town
by Sumner Chilton Powell
Summary
Powell reconstructs how English settlers founded Sudbury, Massachusetts, tracing the people and customs they carried from old England to the new world. By studying land records, town meetings, and disputes in fine detail, he reveals how an English community transformed into a distinctly New England town. The book became an early model for the close grained local history that would shape later colonial scholarship.
”
Historical Context & Significance
Sumner Chilton Powell's microhistory of Sudbury, Massachusetts won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1964.