Sources and Further Reading: Purity and Power

Biographies & Primary Sources on Oliver Cromwell

Fraser, Antonia. Cromwell: Our Chief of Men. New York: Knopf, 1973.A comprehensive and sympathetic biography that explores Cromwell’s character, ambitions, and contradictions. Essential for understanding how Cromwell reconciled religious conviction with authoritarian rule.
Cromwell, Oliver. The Writings and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell. Edited by Wilbur Cortez Abbott. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1937–1947.These primary documents provide Cromwell’s own words on governance, religion, and military action—including his justification of suppressing dissent and moral reform campaigns.

McGrath, Alister E. A Life of John Calvin: A Study in the Shaping of Western Culture. Oxford: Blackwell, 1990.Offers context for Calvin’s original doctrines and how they were interpreted (and misinterpreted) by later political actors like Cromwell.
Noll, Mark A. America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.Traces the development of Calvinist theology in America and how it mingled with republican political thought. Very relevant to the idea of “moral governance.”

Morgan, Edmund S. The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop. Boston: Little, Brown, 1958.A classic on how the Puritans balanced liberty and order in New England—mirroring the contradictions seen in Cromwell’s regime.
Bremer, Francis J. Puritanism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.A brief but rich overview of Puritan theology, governance, and migration patterns, including reactions to political shifts like the Restoration.

Hall, David D. A Reforming People: Puritanism and the Transformation of Public Life in New England. New York: Knopf, 2011.Explores how Puritan political theology took shape in the American colonies—especially ideas of moral surveillance and communal righteousness.
Pestana, Carla Gardina. The English Atlantic in an Age of Revolution, 1640–1661. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004.Essential for understanding how Cromwell's Protectorate and Puritan ideology impacted migration, trade, and culture in New England.

Skinner, Quentin. The Foundations of Modern Political Thought: Volume 2, The Age of Reformation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978.Puts Cromwell’s rule into the broader story of how religious reform movements reshaped early modern political theory.
Hill, Christopher. God’s Englishman: Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution. London: Penguin Books, 1970.A Marxist take, but deeply informative about how class, power, and theology merged in Cromwell’s vision. Useful for challenging and enriching your thesis.