For over four centuries, "Puritan" has been a synonym for dour, joyless, and repressed. In PURITANS AT PLAY, Bruce Daniels reappraises the accuracy of this grim portrait by examining leisure and recreation in Colonial and Revolutionary New England. Chapters on music, dinner parties, dancing, sex, alcohol, taverns, and sports are presented in a lively style that makes this book as entertaining as it is illuminating.