Wicked Puritans of Essex County is a unique report on Puritan criminality that shatters the stereotype of the Puritan: that of someone striving toward, or even achieving, moral superiority. With ground-breaking, eye-opening detail, this book reveals that a surprising number of Puritans were prone to kick the dog, skip church, fornicate, disrespect the minister, lie, cheat, and steal, turn swine into your corn, burn your barn...and much worse. Tom Juergens may not be the first writer to drive nails into the coffin of Puritan moral superiority, but he has found a hefty hammer to wield in the record they left behind.