The Naked Quaker: True Crimes and Controversies from the Courts of Colonial New England

Lawyer and historian Diane Rapaport brings colonial history to life with 25 surprising true stories from court records. Chapters include "Witches and Wild Women", "Coupling", "Tavern Tales", "Slaves and Servants", and "Neighbor vs. Neighbor". The Naked Quaker reveals how our ancestors behaved and spoke. A woman walks into Puritan Sunday meeting and drops her dress as a protest tactic. A highway robber threatens his victim: “I will take you by your eyelids and make your heels strike fire!” A mysterious vagabond wields “enthusiastical power” over men, who break the law to follow her. The word “Puritan” conjures up dour images of 17th-century New Englanders. We rarely think of Puritans as people who had fun, or sex, but human nature was not so different 350 years ago.