American Colonies: The Settlement of North America to 1800 (Penguin History of the United States) - Softcover

Taylor, Alan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0142002100 ISBN 13: 9780142002100

Publisher: Penguin, 2003

Synopsis

AMERICAN COLONIES starts with the earliest years of human colonization of the American continent and environs with the Siberian migrations across the Bering Strait 15,000 years ago. It ends in around 1800 when the rough outline of the contemporary North America could be perceived.

Dropping the usual Anglocentric description of North America's fate, Taylor brilliantly conveys the far more vivid and startling story of the competing interests--Spanish, French, English, Native, Russian--that over the centuries shaped and reshaped both the continent and its 'suburbs' in the Caribbean and the Pacific. It is one of the greatest of all human stories.

About this title

Review:

"Formidable...provokes us to contemplate the ways in which residents of North America have dealt with diversity." -The New York Times Book Review

"A superb overview of colonial America." -Christian Science Monitor

"Compelling, readable, and fresh, American Colonies is perhaps the most brilliant piece of synthesis in recent American historical writing." --Phillip J. Deloria, Carroll Smith-Rosenberg Collegiate Professor of American Culture and History at the University of Michigan

"Even the serious student of history will find a great deal of previously obscure information. The book offers a balanced understanding of the diverse peoples and forces that converged on this continent and influenced the course of American history." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Crammed full of fascinating material uncovered by historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists in the past half-century." --Newsday

Synopsis:

This volume starts with the earliest years of human colonization of the American continent and environs, as it follows the Siberian migrations across the Bering Strait 15,000 years ago. It ends in the period around 1800 when the rough outline of contemporary North America could be perceived. Dropping the usual Anglocentric description of North America's fate, Taylor conveys the far more vivid and startling story of the competing interests - Spanish, French, English, Native, Russian - that over the centuries shaped and reshaped both the continent and its "suburbs" in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0142002100
• ISBN 13: 9780142002100
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 544