The Fires of New England

"The Fires of New England is an exceptionally deep and contextually rich case study of American culture and politics in the Early Republic. The power of the book is its illustrating and humanizing the complex effects of transformational historical developments through the lives of individuals."—John Resch, author of Suffering Soldiers: Revolutionary War Veterans, Moral Sentiment, and Political Culture in the Early Republic

"The story of this reformist crusade is an utterly fresh one, with lots of appeal for a twenty-first-century audience. It's fascinating to realize that the cultural frustration with U.S. legal culture might go back this far in time."—Aaron Sachs, author of Arcadian America: The Death and Life of an Environmental Tradition

"A key virtue in Morser's treatment is his refusal to see the manifesto as the cry of pain of people left behind by history—the familiar, dreary gemeinschaft to gesellschaft story."—The Journal of American History

"[A]n intriguing book that highlights the complexity of life in the early republic, even for characters off the beaten path . . . The book is a nuanced reminder to readers that even bit players and forgotten events can be windows into the wider, interconnected world in which rural Americans found themselves by the 1830s."—American Historical Review