write_of_passages's review against another edition
5.0
A tour de force by Alan Taylor! The heavy tome might seem daunting at first, but Taylor puts us on a boat to the new world and successfully navigates us not only to Puritan New England, but Spanish South America, the Virginia Company, the middle Colonies, the West Indies, and the Pacific. In many ways, Taylor does not limit our scope. His work simultaneously reveals the colonization of the Americas, one of the first, if not the only work, I have come across to keep things in perspective. Taylor focuses on the micro and the macro; you will see not only Jamestown in 1607 but also Spanish Mexico around the same time. He does not allow us to forget that these colonies were not created in bubbles and each constantly intersects. At the conclusion, an understanding of the colonies chronologically, a broad understanding of their differences, stemming back from the very founding, as well as their similarities, culminates in the moments when these colonies begin to interact.
This book does not narrow its scope to one colony or one superpower colonizer; Taylor spends a full paragraph and a half of 477 pages on the American Revolution. This book is meant to show us the movement of peoples to, within, and among the new world and her colonies. Alan Taylor succeeds beautifully. His prose is light, easy to read, at times unexpectedly humorous, yet always aware of it's scope. A must have for any history buff!
This book does not narrow its scope to one colony or one superpower colonizer; Taylor spends a full paragraph and a half of 477 pages on the American Revolution. This book is meant to show us the movement of peoples to, within, and among the new world and her colonies. Alan Taylor succeeds beautifully. His prose is light, easy to read, at times unexpectedly humorous, yet always aware of it's scope. A must have for any history buff!
noswadyllib's review against another edition
challenging
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Fantastic book so well written.
jhall45's review against another edition
5.0
This book provides an overview of the different colonization schemes in North America up to the independence movements from 1770 - 1820. It describes the differences between colonies broken down by location and colonizer, ranging from dense sugar plantation colonies in Barbados and Jamaica, to settler colonies along the Atlantic coast of North America, and to remote outposts such as Louisiana, New Mexico, and California.
Empires of the Atlantic World is a more detailed treatment of this topic, with a more explicit comparison between the Spanish and British efforts in the Americas. This book is more rigorous than American Nations in discussing differences between different North American colonies.
I had the distinct impression as I read this book that this entire North Atlantic colonial system was a machine that turned enslaved Africans, indentured Europeans, and co-opted Natives into refined products to be enjoyed in London, Amsterdam, and Paris. It was certainly grim reading.
Number one thing I learned from this: Barbados was a very very bad place to move to.
Empires of the Atlantic World is a more detailed treatment of this topic, with a more explicit comparison between the Spanish and British efforts in the Americas. This book is more rigorous than American Nations in discussing differences between different North American colonies.
I had the distinct impression as I read this book that this entire North Atlantic colonial system was a machine that turned enslaved Africans, indentured Europeans, and co-opted Natives into refined products to be enjoyed in London, Amsterdam, and Paris. It was certainly grim reading.
Number one thing I learned from this: Barbados was a very very bad place to move to.
marisbest2's review against another edition
5.0
This was a pretty good listen. Covers all the European settlements in North America and the Native populations thereof. It doesn't have a grand narrative (though it does have subnarratives, eg around why the British succeed where the Dutch did not) which is fine. It doesn't try to match to present day circumstances like American Nations. It doesn't go as deep as 1493 or A Native American History of the United States. Its fairly unpolitical and yet not naive (there's lots of talk about the evils of slavery and about the human costs of European imperialism). Its definitely not Anglo Centric. Almost no mention of individual actors and definitely no biographical musings which is a risk in some of these kinds of books. Overall very good.
pnsk13's review against another edition
4.0
A comprehensive and easy-to-read study of the origins and early development of the North American colonies. The author shifts focus from various geographical areas and provides analysis on the different factors that influenced their evolution while retaining a relatively neutral stance. I appreciated that the author refrained from over-complicating the implications of the diverse players' actions and leaves the reader to make his/her own conclusions. However, the book was mildly flawed by occasional repetitiveness.
stephen_angliss's review against another edition
2.0
The book would be better titled “How People Inhabited the Americas.” The work is less a thread of the famed thirteen colonies of the American Revolution, and more a sweeping overview of the initial settlements in uninhabited places.
The work goes out of its way to wag its finger at western civilization. It makes the predictable comments about white cruelty and greed. It comes across, less as a sincere stance, but more as a right of passage. It’s as if, by writing the usual critiques of Columbus, he’s signaling to the secular world that he belongs in the big leagues and knows how to play ball.
His analysis of Puritanism and American evangelicalism is uninformed. His judgements are often based on quotes given with his own implied context, and he prefers to ignore positive effects of Christianity and focus on the negative. For example, he quotes by name John Newton when retelling then horrors of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, but he never mentions that this same slave trader repented, followed Christ, and wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace.”
The work goes out of its way to wag its finger at western civilization. It makes the predictable comments about white cruelty and greed. It comes across, less as a sincere stance, but more as a right of passage. It’s as if, by writing the usual critiques of Columbus, he’s signaling to the secular world that he belongs in the big leagues and knows how to play ball.
His analysis of Puritanism and American evangelicalism is uninformed. His judgements are often based on quotes given with his own implied context, and he prefers to ignore positive effects of Christianity and focus on the negative. For example, he quotes by name John Newton when retelling then horrors of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, but he never mentions that this same slave trader repented, followed Christ, and wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace.”
iambartacus's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. It presented the information in a different way than the traditional "here is a boring ass timeline, now memorize it" method history books/teachers/school textbook writers usually favor. Instead the author chose to present the colonies by colonizer and included the relationship of the colonizing powers with each other as well. Very interesting to see the different layers at play here. Another thing I like is how it went beyond just the revolutionary war era both before and after.
Overall I felt this was a fresh look at a subject that has been both exhaustively written about and overlooked at the same time.
Overall I felt this was a fresh look at a subject that has been both exhaustively written about and overlooked at the same time.
songyousing108's review against another edition
4.0
A solid detailed account of the colonial time period of America. This is not a light read, but covers this time period nicely and with manageable tone.
gregbrown's review against another edition
5.0
Outstanding look at the events in North America before the American Revolution. Taylor juggles a number of threads very well, helped along by the book’s cogent structure that tends to follow areas through time instead of offering slices of the whole continent at once. He does an especially great job tying in the environmental history, showing how each group shaped their habitat and the effects they wrought, purposely or accidentally. Taylor lays out the material forces at work and doesn’t shy away from depicting the colonists in all their ugliness.
I haven’t read much about this period since the textbook in high-school, and this was such a huge jump in clarity, understanding, and depth. Excited to read Taylor’s two subsequent books covering the revolution and aftermath.
I haven’t read much about this period since the textbook in high-school, and this was such a huge jump in clarity, understanding, and depth. Excited to read Taylor’s two subsequent books covering the revolution and aftermath.