In 1980, when my book on Puritans had just come out, one of my more well-known colleagues sat down in my office to read the jacket flap. 'Oh, ' He said, with a touch of disdain. 'You're actually saying something.' This book, too, is actually saying something-more readably, I hope. My colleague's spontaneous reaction expressed the prevailing postromatic values of the profession, which dazzle of critical sensibility playing over texts.