Puritanical?

[Doug Millison]

"What you will not find in "The Times of Their Lives" is much 
political history or
theological description of the Puritans of Plymouth Colony. Indeed, the
Deetzes don't even mention the work of such historians as Perry Miller, whose
lifetime examination of Pilgrim intellectual life is deemed basic reading by
historians. But the Deetzes do show in many ways, from the quantities of
alcohol the Pilgrims consumed to the absence of log cabin homes in Plymouth
Colony, that the Pilgrims were more flavorful, more colorful, more
tempestuous than their religiously righteous images would suggest. The
Pilgrims committed adultery (of course, we've known that since Hawthorne's
"Scarlet Letter"); there was homosexuality; they were superstitious; and they
were litigious: the court records are replete with formal accusations of
witchcraft, attempted adultery and defamation."
from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/27/arts/27BERN.html?pagewanted=1
Plymouth, Minus the Mythic Trimmings
                     By RICHARD BERNSTEIN