Philip Greven: "Four Generations" Book Review by Peter Pen

This paper looks at Philip J. Greven's methods and ideas about how history can be acquired in his academic book "Four Generations: Population, Land, and Family in Colonial Andover, Massachusetts." In this book Greven used information about families gathered from records of births, marriages and deaths, and about the land from town records, tax records, and deeds, to supplement his study of family life over four generations from 1650-1800. The writer gives a detailed description of the three parts of the book, explaining how Greven has achieved an understanding of early colonial life that was once thought lost for good. The paper concludes with a summary of what the writer has learned from Greven's book and its most important contributions to the study of this period.