Historian Walter W. Woodward presents a unique and novel view of seventeenth-century New England in his 2010 book, Prospero’s America. In this book, he reframes colonial New England Puritan culture and life based on the life of John Winthrop, Jr., son of the first Massachusetts Bay governor and governor in his own right of Connecticut, and his Winthrop’s primary interest in religio-scientific pursuits through alchemy, a foundational piece of the developing New England culture of the time.
Woodward is a historian of Early America and the Atlantic world with a particular focus on public history and the history of Connecticut. Woodward earned his B.A. in English from the University of Florida, his Master’s in History from Cleveland State University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut where he later became a professor until his recent retirement in 2022. In addition to his professorship, Woodward served as the Connecticut State Historian, now emeritus, and was the fifth person to serve the role. Woodward’s career in history began later in his life, originally working in the music and advertising industries before pursuing higher education; this tardy career change did not show signs of suffering in his historical work as Prospero’s America demonstrated with its generally positive reception and its winning the Homer D. Babbidge, Jr., Award from the Association for the Study of Connecticut History.
Prospero’s America unfolded the story of seventeenth-century New England through the life of Winthrop and his influence on the region especially in his intellectual, primarily alchemical, interests. The first two chapters lay out this influence by exploring the origins of alchemical practice as well as the succeeding historical views on alchemy as a pseudoscience which either showed flawed attempts at transmutation to get rich or vanity in believing they could reveal God’s secrets about the natural world. Woodward developed a third view of alchemy through understanding Winthrop’s life and motivations that “Christian alchemy,” as Woodward termed it, “fully embraces the goal of economic gain but simultaneously recognizes that such pursuits neither ruled out nor contrasted with the pursuit of alchemy for religious ends” (12). Part of why Winthrop provided a unique and proper lens for this view was his trans-Atlantic ties and his immersion in the opportunities only afforded in New England at the time. For one, New England was “abundant with land and natural resources” (41) which made practical experimentation more likely. Additionally, the ideas developing in the region, primarily in Connecticut as a direct response and departure from the practices of Massachusetts at the time, such as “Puritan Neoplatonism” as well as Winthrop’s engagement with other European thinkers promoted an intellectual culture in New England over time which mingled equally with the existing religious and entrepreneurial ideas of the time.
Chapters 3-5 develop on the background of the first two to show the forming of a new intellectual center in Connecticut; quite literally, the forming of a “New London” with Winthrop leading the way. Winthrop’s plan was to found and settle a new city at a prime location disputed by Connecticut and Massachusetts Bay which would serve as an economic and intellectual hub based around alchemical experimentation and practice. The idea of this new settlement helped to distinguish Connecticut from Massachusetts Bay by highlighting, through Winthrop’s plans, the divergence in cultural approach and pursuit of intellectual endeavors, especially as they related to religious ideas. Thus, Connecticut history becomes less of “a pastoral and largely insignificant mirror of the history being written to the north and east in Massachusetts Bay” (92). New London also served to highlight physical and political conflict between the colonies as well as with Native American Indians, particularly the Pequots and the Mohegans. Despite sustained conflict, New London did eventually take hold, in no small part due to Winthrop’s vision of alchemy’s influence, growing economic stability, and Winthrop’s own reputation built up through his own efforts as well as through the connections made possible in part due to alchemy, such as with Jonathan Brewster’s experiment which eventually attracted more attention, and people, to New London.
The last three chapters focus more on different aspects of Winthrop’s life and career as even more reflection of the importance and influence of Christian alchemy in colonial Connecticut during this time. Once again, Winthrop’s view of the importance of alchemy, particularly as it related to medical practices, made him a widely-sought physician that helped further develop New London and Connecticut as a whole. This was one major aspect of how alchemy fit into the larger network-building practice of the time, as was also featured in Elaine Leong’s Recipes and Everyday Knowledge. This same network would further help Winthrop build credibility and power in the community which he utilized to turn Connecticut’s aggressive witch trials around in 1660s, virtually stopping almost single-handedly. This, too, played a key role in Winthrop’s continued effort through his participation in and eventual leadership of the Royal Society at Whitehall to show his colony’s deference to the crown while also subtly asserting its autonomy. Ultimately, these factors served as prime examples of the interconnectedness of the pursuit of scientific knowledge and the machinations of cross-Atlantic politics.
Woodward’s work is highly engaging and extremely compelling in the way he structures his argument in Prospero’s America. He is thoroughly convincing in the integral relationship between natural philosophy and the pursuit of knowledge with the developing politics and culture, primarily between England and the New England colonies. Woodward also convincingly argued for Connecticut’s importance in its own right and separate development from Massachusetts Bay Colony, especially through Winthrop. Uniquely, despite the throughline provided by a heavy reliance upon his writings, Winthrop features more as a vehicle for understanding the culture of the period rather than being the absolute focus of the work. Additionally, Woodward, as he expounds in the introduction, crafts a history which supersedes any one specific topic of history, such as science and politics; it is this amalgamated story which he argues, and rightfully so, that the story of Winthrop, Connecticut, and the centrality of alchemical and “scientific” exploration in many aspects of New England life provides a quite unusual but no less important understanding of culture of New England colonies of the seventeenth century.
