BOSTON (AP) — "Fifty Shades of Grey," Puritan edition?

The famously strait-laced 17th-century sectarians who helped settle America weren't nearly as priggish as you might think, a leading Puritan scholar says.

Letters penned by Puritan forefathers including Colonial Gov. John Winthrop evoke more passion than prudishness, said Francis Bremer, a professor emeritus of history at Pennsylvania's Millersville University.

Bremer is presenting his latest research next week at Boston's Old South Meeting House, at an event dubbed "Ravishing Affection: Myths and Realities about Puritans and Sex."

"The Pu...