John Winthrop, Oliver Cromwell, and the Land of Promise

A pair of books put historical events in the context of their time. Following Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado, John Winthrop, Oliver Cromwell, and the Land of Promise by Marc Aronson describes the interactions of these two influential men. Winthrop, a Puritan, struggled to create a moderate settlement for religious worship in the New World, while Cromwell, who saw himself as ""the agent of God,"" led the revolution against King Charles I. As with his previous books, Aronson often utilizes expressions or situations with which readers will be familiar to help them place historical events in context; for instance, he compares the British takeover of Native land to ""a family secret no one wants to discuss but everyone knows is there,"" and links Winthrop's vision of America as a ""Land of Promise"" with that of Martin Luther King Jr.'s ideal of ""the Promised Land.""