Synopses & Reviews
In this beautiful and feelingly written book, Mary Lee Settle tells the story of Roger Williams: the most compelling figure in colonial America. Plucked from obscurity to clerk for the celebrated English jurist Sir Edward Coke, Williams had a ringside seat on the brutal politics of Jacobean London. He was witness to the pomp of the Star Chamber; the burning of a dissenter; and the humiliation of his master by King James and the royal favorite, the dangerously beautiful Buckingham. Haunted by ambition and love for a woman above his station, he fled to New England, where repression and conformity wore different clothes. In Settle's terrific account, the little known history of Williams emerges in layers, detailing the turbulent, dedicated life of a man committed to individuality and political freedom.
Review
"Settle returns to her beloved historical genre in I, Roger Williams, this time taking up the cause and voice of a radical defender of his (and others') freedom in both England and the New World. Settle's stunning achievement here is to capture the voice of this ambitious, violent, cold, and principled man as he tells his story from Jacobean England to the edges of American's Indian wilderness. She captures the rhythm of the language of King James's England and of Plymouth America. Williams was persecuted for this ideas and words, not for his actions, but he was vilified in his native country and in America, where he was tried for heresy (the 'heresy' being his attempt to get the Colonies to pay for Indian land they had stolen). He was persecuted for calling meetings, for speaking his mind, for demanding the most elemental civil rights. Threatened with jail and banishment, knowing that he could never return to England (which would have brought sure death), Williams's story traces the growth of America, particularly as it dealt with the separation of church and state. Williams's life is a cautionary tale, one which we would do well to listen to today." Reviewed by Andrew Witmer, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Review
A beautiful work of art. Daring in conception, elegantly deft in execution. (Los Angeles Times Book Review)
Synopsis
A Los Angeles Times Best Book of 2001 and a Washington Post Book World 2001 Rave.
Synopsis
A Best Book of 2001 and a Book World 2001 Rave.
About the Author
Mary Lee Settle won the National Book Award for her novel Blood Ties and was the founder of the PEN/Faulkner Prize. She died in 2005.