The Lord Of Misrule (Throwback)

Throughline

NPR

Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.7 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 28 November 2024

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

By the time his book went to press in London, on November 18, 1633, Thomas Morton had been exiled from the Puritan colonies in Massachusetts. His crimes: drinking, carousing, and — crucially — building social and economic ties with Native people. His book outlined a vision for what America could become. A very different vision than that of the Puritans.

But the book wouldn't be published that day. It wouldn't be published for years. Because agents for the Puritan colonists stormed the press and destroyed every copy.

Today on the show, the story of what's widely considered America's first banned book, the radical vision it conjured, and the man who outlined that vision: Thomas Morton, the Lord of Misrule.

To access bonus episodes and listen to Throughline sponsor-free, subscribe to Throughline+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/throughline.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This message comes from Indiana University.
0:02.8	Indiana University performs breakthrough research every year,
0:06.4	making discoveries that improve human health,
0:09.0	combat climate change, and move society forward.
0:12.3	More at IU.edu slash forward. The In the year
0:41.3	In the year since the incarnation of Christ, 1622,
0:58.9	it was my chance to be landed in the parts of New England
1:02.2	where I found two sorts of people,
1:05.3	the one Christians, the other infidels.
1:09.5	These I found most full of humanity.
1:13.2	It's the 1630s, and a man named Thomas Morton sits down to write a book,
1:19.5	a book that almost changed America's origin story.
1:24.9	If this land be not rich, then is the whole world poor?
1:29.7	Morton journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean to New Plymouth, Massachusetts.
1:34.8	The more I looked, the more I liked it.
1:37.9	Except the pilgrims had gotten there first, and had already set up one of North America's
1:43.2	first European colonies. And Morton,
1:46.4	by the time he writes his book, had already been kicked out of New England twice. The separatists
1:51.9	envying the prosperity and hope of the plantation at Merrimount conspired together against mine
1:58.4	host. The book tells his story.
2:02.4	And made up a party against him.
2:04.7	And mustered up what aid they could,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.