| |
|
The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity 32 reviews
Jill Lepore
Vintage, 1999
how we came to be us
+ History as Vivisection
One of the most interesting, thought-provoking books I have read. The scholarship is impressive, the prose lucid, the presentation of a conflict that has more than two sides is commendably fair. The book is a real eye-opener. And it has the excitement of a detective story, as Lepore tracks changes ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Revolutionary Outlaws: Ethan Allen and the Struggle for Independence on the Early American Frontier3 reviews
Michael A. Bellesiles
University of Virginia Press, 1995
The revolution within the Revolution
+ A very fine and stimulating book
Yes, my name really is Ethan Allen. This is an excellently researched and well documented account about a very little known chapter of the American Revolution. The book is the story of Vermont's struggle for statehood. It explores the economic, social, and political pressures that led Vermonters ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Boone: A Biography (Shannon Ravenel Books) 24 reviews
Robert Morgan
Algonquin Books, 2008
An Icon Become Human
+ Engrossing and excellent portrait of a great man
What strikes me as the greatest accomplishment of Robert Morgan in this biography of Daniel Boone is stripping away the myth and describing the person. I read a recent biography of Kit Carson that did the same thing. As such, both authors have done readers a great service.
Boone himself was a ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Jamestown, the Buried Truth12 reviews
William M. Kelso
University of Virginia Press, 2008
more maps please
+ Definitive for the scholar desirious of the archeological journey at Jamestown
+ Neat book
+ Jamestown Rediscovered
+ Great History Lesson
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 206931 reviews
Neil Howe, William Strauss
Harper Perennial, 1992
This analytical historical model holds up well 16 years later.
+ Remarkably prescient, especially now
+ Generations
+ Major hit after all these years!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
The Reshaping of Everyday Life: 1790-1840 (Everyday Life in America) 7 reviews
Jack Larkin
Harper Perennial, 1989
Excellent Summary of Everyday Life
+ Everyday life in America before the railroads & industrialization
+ Knowing our Past
+ Excellent Overview
+ Every man was an island
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life4 reviews
James Deetz
Anchor, 1996
Remember Small Things
+ Little things mean a lot
+ copied directly from Scientific American Nov. 96
The main thrust of Deetz's argument in this book points to the incomplete nature of the traditional historian's approach to understanding past societies. By focusing only on written documentation, traditional historians necessarily confine the groups they can examine to literate societies, thereby ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America140 reviews
James Webb
Broadway, 2005
Born Fightng- How the Scots-Irish shaped America
+ You can't stomp `em out and you can't make `em run...
+ Highly readable
+ Want to know why so many Americans cling to guns and religion?
+ Understanding the Liberal/Redneck Divide
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Plymouth Colony: Its History and People3 reviews
Eugene Aubrey Stratton
Ancestry Publishing, 1986
An excellent history of the Plymouth settlers.
+ Fantastic Research Information
+ Just What I Was Looking For
In doing research on my own ancestor who was a passanger on the Mayflower and one of the original Pilgrims, I have used over 50 books. This one is by far the best. Very readable, this book provides an excellent narative of many of the events of the first 70 years at Plymouth, and detailed ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Bound Away: Virginia and the Westward Movement 9 reviews
David Hackett Fischer, James C. Kelly
University of Virginia Press, 2000
Maintains his high standard!
+ Immigrants, Virginia, and Moving West
+ Good background history of the Scots coming to America.
+ Migration To, Within, and From Virginia
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
William Cooper's Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic10 reviews
Alan Taylor
Vintage, 1996
Fascinating
+ Great American historical book!
+ Politics & Prestige in America's Infancy
+ Excellent Read, A Bit Over-Focused on "Gentility"
+ Magisterial?
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation25 reviews
Peter L. Bernstein
W. W. Norton, 2006
Don't be turned off by the negative reviews. Whaddaya mean no map?
I was hesitant to buy this after reading negative reviews. However, it's compelling enough that I've read about 100 pages a day. I can only assume that the paperback has no map or the reviewers failed to find it in the beginning. My hardback edition has a useful map in the front which I turned ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (America: a Cultural History)85 reviews
David Hackett Fischer
Oxford University Press, USA, 1989
Indispensable for understanding the origins of the American Civil War
+ Non-professional appreciation
+ Fantastic Book!!!!
+ America's Cradle
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
The Great Meadow: Farmers and the Land in Colonial Concord (Yale Agrarian Studies Series)
Brian Donahue
Yale University Press, 2007
The farmers of colonial New England have been widely accused of farming extensively, neglecting manure, wearing out their land, and moving on. But did they? And if so, when and why? Brian Donahue offers an innovative, accessible, and authoritative history of the early farming practices of Concord, Massachusetts, and challenges the long-standing notion that colonial husbandry degraded the land. In ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Pennsylvania Frontier7 reviews
James H. Merrell
W. W. Norton & Company, 2000
On Both Sides of the Council Fire
+ Into the American Woods
+ PA as it was for my Scotch-Irish Pioneer Ancestors
+ Ambiguous Legacy
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War276 reviews
Nathaniel Philbrick
Penguin (Non-Classics), 2007
A great, mythbusting yarn
+ Riveting Historical Novel of America's Early History
+ Detailed and well written
Many of the reviews (the 1-, 2- and 3-star reviews in particular) criticize the author for (a) poor choice of book title, (b) shoddy history, (c) boring prose. The mixed reviews on this prevented me from purchasing Mayflower for quite some time, until curiosity got the better of me.
While ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth4 reviews
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Vintage, 2002
something special
+ Material Artifacts Spun Into Historical Silk
+ Why Do We Keep That Old Junk?
+ The Antiques Roadshow on Steroids
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-181239 reviews
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Vintage, 1991
Amazingly preserved firsthand account of colonial America
+ Rural Colonial Life is More Interesting Than You Think
I greatly enjoyed this book, which gave a truly unique and rare perspective into female life in early Colonial New England. Thoroughly absorbing the chapters is truly co-dependent on simultaneously reading through the footnotes at the back, so know in advance that there will be a lot of flipping ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Carolina Cradle: Settlement of the Northwest Carolina Frontier, 1747-17625 reviews
Robert W. Ramsey
The University of North Carolina Press, 1987
Most informative and interesting I have read on genealogy .
+ Informative, Well Wrtiien and Documented
+ Wonderful book for North Carolina researchers
+ This is a great book to have.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America28 reviews
John Putnam Demos
Vintage, 1995
The extraordinary tale and religious journey of a New England girl
+ An Ethno-historical Masterwork
+ Impeccable scholarship, vital insights into culture conflicts of the past, and present
A walk through the shady streets of Old Deerfield, Massachusetts, presents many fine views -- the stately old homes, the colonial doorways, the lonely Union Army sentinel atop the town's sandstone monument, and Frank Boyden's splendid prep school, Deerfield Academy. A stroller then comes to the ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
