Magnalia Christi Americana

Magnalia Christi Americana is a book written in 1702 by Cotton Mather (1663-1728). Its title is in Latin, but its subtitle is in English: The Ecclesiastical History of New England. It was generally written in English and printed in London "for Thomas Parkhurst, at the Bible and Three Crowns, Cheapside." It consists of seven "books" collected into two volumes, and it details the religious development of Massachusetts, and other nearby colonies in ... more

Magnalia Christi Americana is a book written in 1702 by Cotton Mather (1663-1728). Its title is in Latin, but its subtitle is in English: The Ecclesiastical History of New England. It was generally written in English and printed in London "for Thomas Parkhurst, at the Bible and Three Crowns, Cheapside." It consists of seven "books" collected into two volumes, and it details the religious development of Massachusetts, and other nearby colonies in New England from 1620 to 1698. An excerpt of the book in the Norton Anthology of American Literature details the works and accomplishments of William Bradford. Other notable parts of the book are Mather's descriptions of the Salem Witch Trials, in which he criticizes some of the methods of the court and attempts to distance himself from the event; his account of the escape of Hannah Dustan, one of the best known to captivity narrative scholars; his complete "catalogus" of all the students that graduated from Harvard College, and story of the... less