About John Landry

Roger Williams may be the most written-about person in 17th century New England, as pointed out in this anthology. Several books have addressed his remarkable career, including Edmund Morgan’s …
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From December 1774 to March 1776, Captain James Wallace of the British Navy patrolled Narragansett Bay.  He had two objectives:  first, to minimize smuggling that evaded imperial custom duties; and …
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It’s a great puzzle of the Revolutionary era.  Before 1767, Rhode Island was one of the most gung-ho colonies in resisting British intervention.  Newporters had fired on imperial customs enforcers, …
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Most Rhode Islanders know Roger Williams as the founder of the colony, as well as the great advocate for separating church and state. But we can also see him as …
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We Rhode Islanders pat ourselves on the back a lot, including when it comes to the Revolution. But did the colony (and later state) really matter much in bringing about …
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A book review: The City State of Boston: The Rise and Fall of an Atlantic Power, 1630-1865. By Mark Peterson. Princeton University Press, 2019.

Once upon a time there was …
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A book review: Kid Number One: Alan Hassenfeld and Hasbro, by G. Wayne Miller (Pawtucket, RI: Stillwater River Publications, 2019).

It is arguably Rhode Island’s biggest economic success story since …
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