This isn't a review, simply a recommendation.
"Roger Williams and The Creation of the American Soul. Church, State and the Birth of Liberty." John M. Barry.
Published by Viking earlier this year.
ISBN 978-0-670-02305-9
From the jacket:
"...Williams, a devout Puritan minister, also believed that America could be a model, but a model of liberty that required church and state to separate entirely one from the other. One hundred fifty years before Thomas Jefferson, Williams called for a 'wall of separation' between the two."
and
"...John Barry layers biography and history and ranges widely across questions of politics, religion and ideology, but in the end this is a book about power - and about defining the very nature of America today."
My interest in Williams stems from a fondness for Rhode Island colonial history in general and my ancestor's relationship with him in particular. I enjoyed this a great deal. Others might not.