Stuyvesant Bound: An Essay on Loss Across Time

Abstract

Through the centuries Peter Stuyvesant has been described in many ways. He is often portrayed as an uncompromising tyrant whose failures cost the Dutch their colonial American holdings. At the other end of the spectrum Washington Irving presents a congenial figure unable to adjust successfully to a changing world. In Stuyvesant Bound Donna Merwick describes Stuyvesant as an experienced and savvy leader who for seventeen years capably performed his duties despite many difficult circumstances.