What would New England Puritans -- the original "judges from Boston" --make of today's debate over same-sex marriage? What would Mark Twain make of Disney World? Authors Mark Peterson and Jeff Wasserstrom probe these thorny questions in the new issue of Common-place, which also includes Andie Tucher's meditations on the (Revolutionary) war stories her great, great, great, great, grandfather told and sold; and Mark S. Weiner's revealing investigation of the connections Cotton Mather drew between race, murder, and the 1722 small pox epidemic. You'll also find columns that track down early American erotica, puzzle over the hidden meaning of a Peale portrait, and make sense of the many uses of the Internet in high school history classrooms. Plus reviews, interviews, and more.

A common place, an uncommon voice