This is a major contribution to North American history. It's the
first part of an academic series of books dedicated to the history
of America, and as such it's largely concerned with the centuries
before the 13 states' declaration of independence, before even
Columbus's landing in 1492. It's also a radical book, rethinking
the normal heroic story in which English settlers strike out for
freedom from the social and political constraints of their
homeland, landing on the Eastern seaboard to create a new land of
prosperity and equality. And, as Taylor points out, nowhere in the
usual histories do we see the Russian presence in Alaska, or
English forays into Hawaii. Taylor's approach is multiple,
sensitive to a complicated terrain. He looks at Dutch, French and
Spanish colonists, seeing them as far more than just an adjunct to
the British enterprise, and takes full account of the situation of
the many divergent Indian peoples and their forms of cultural
resistance. Looking at each region of North America separately, he
creates a detailed picture of the sheer social diversity of the new
colonies and the way social patterns emerged from widely different
cultural backgrounds, as racial identities of colonists and
colonised established themselves. He also recognizes the diversity
of the slave population, peoples whose languages and cultures -
having been drawn from different regions of the vast African
continent - were widely different from each other, let alone those
of their 'masters'. From the lengthy regional accounts Taylor
weaves a tapestry of remarkable stories, detailing how a nation
emerged to become its own coloniser, in the sense that those who
struck out to the west coast, plundering more land from the
indigenous population, were by now American expansionists rather
than European settlers. Using a range of scholarship from different
disciplines, Taylor tells a story of violence, suppression, fear,
rebellion and disease: an overview that does justice to the
turbulent centuries that transformed a continent. (Kirkus UK)
With this volume, Alan Taylor challenges the traditional story of colonial history by examining the many cultures that helped make America. Transcending the usual Anglocentric version of our colonial past, he recovers the importance of Native American tribes, African slaves, and the rival empires of France, Spain, the Netherlands, and even Russia in the colonization of North America. Moving beyond the Atlantic seaboard to examine the entire continent, American Colonies reveals a pivotal period in the global interaction of peoples, cultures, plants, animals, and microbes. In a vivid narrative, Taylor draws upon cutting-edge scholarship to create a timely picture of the colonial world characterized by an interplay of freedom and slavery, opportunity and loss.
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