The History of the Puritans by Daniel Neal, abridged by Geoffrey Main, published privately.

Neal’s four-volume history of the Puritans has here been abridged and condensed into one chunky volume. (This version engages with previous abridgements while also referring back to the first and classic editions.) Note that it is not a summary or a dilution: while it has undergone some editing, and includes helpful footnotes and textual clarifications, the vocabulary and tone are still more that of the eighteenth century, and the size of the volume may still daunt some readers. However, the intent is good and the outcome is truly profitable. Neal’s value – especially in an abridged edition – lies in his comprehensive sweep of a huge period of history, in his sympathetic treatment of his subjects (no faux-impartiality here!), in his pungent assessment of individuals and institutions, in his grasp of the Puritan movement as not merely one of private piety but also of public purpose, and in his enduringly needful emphasis on religious liberty. There are reasons why Neal’s massive History was massively popular for the first hundred years after it appeared and why it helped to inform the dissenting consciousness in the British Isles. We have lost much of that which our forefathers studied and grasped and applied, and it is seen in much of the confusion and spinelessness of not just private but public Christianity today. This version of Neal’s work enables believers today, perhaps especially nonconformists, to enjoy the essence of his labours, and – hopefully – to recover something of the clarity and vigour of the Puritans and their successors in their battle for righteousness across the board of individual and national life. Being independently published, it may be harder to find, but will be worth seeking out.

Jeremy Walker, reviewed in the Banner of Truth Magazine No 748, January 2026