Plagues of the heart

'This is a good book, written by an historian whose skill with her sources brings her subjects to life... the fascination of Brock's rich study is seeing something of how and why a medium-sized town in a small country on Europe's northerly margins should have become one of the places where the "culture of covenanting" proved so distinctive and enduring.'
Laura A.M. Stewart, Journal of Religious History

'Michelle D. Brock's Plagues of the Heart is a lively and well-written study of religion and society in mid-seventeenth-century Ayr. Most academic historians of the covenanting revolution and the Restoration have attempted to tell a national story. Brock emulates the best features of each mode of historical writing, asking questions of broad importance about the impact of the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant, while constructing her analysis primarily from the records of a single, medium-sized royal burgh... The book can be highly recommended to all scholars of seventeenth-century Scotland.'
Alasdair Raffe, Scottish Historical Review

'Plagues of the Heart has set the standard by engagingly and comprehensively setting out the formation and practice of Covenanting identity in Ayr'
Timothy Slonosky, Social History

'The study's contribution lies in utilizing previously underexplored Kirk session records, contextualized through broader historiography. The book principally seeks to do three things: make the case for the emotive power of covenanting, argue covenanting shaped the burgh throughout the century, and set Minister William Adair at the heart of the phenomena.'
Scott Spurlock, American Historical Review