| Under Household Government: Sex and Family in Puritan Massachusetts Subjects: Sex crimes -- Massachusetts -- History -- 17th century; Families -- Massachusetts -- History -- 17th century; Households -- Massachusetts -- History -- 17th century; Puritans -- Massachusetts -- History -- 17th century; Seventeenth-century New Englanders were not as busy policing their neighbors' behavior as Nathaniel Hawthorne or many historians of early America would have us believe. Keeping their own households in line occupied too much of their time. Under Household Government reveals the extent to which family members took on the role of watchdog in matters of sexual indiscretion. M. Michelle Jarrett Morris is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Missouri. |