Book Description
Listen to a short interview with Karen Ordahl Kupperman
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Captain John Smith's 1607 voyage to Jamestown was not his first trip abroad. He had traveled throughout Europe, been sold as a war captive in Turkey, escaped, and returned to England in time to join the Virginia Company's colonizing project. In Jamestown migrants, merchants, and soldiers who had also sailed to the distant shores of the Ottoman Empire, Africa, and Ireland in search of new beginnings encountered Indians who already possessed broad understanding of Europeans. Experience of foreign environments and cultures had sharpened survival instincts on all sides and aroused challenging questions about human nature and its potential for transformation.
It is against this enlarged temporal and geographic background that Jamestown dramatically emerges in Karen Kupperman's breathtaking study. Reconfiguring the national myth of Jamestown's failure, she shows how the settlement's distinctly messy first decade actually represents a period of ferment in which individuals were learning how to make a colony work. Despite the settlers' dependence on the Chesapeake Algonquians and strained relations with their London backers, they forged a tenacious colony that survived where others had failed. Indeed, the structures and practices that evolved through trial and error in Virginia would become the model for all successful English colonies, including Plymouth.
Capturing England's intoxication with a wider world through ballads, plays, and paintings, and the stark reality of Jamestown--for Indians and Europeans alike--through the words of its inhabitants as well as archeological and environmental evidence, Kupperman re-creates these formative years with astonishing detail.
Customer Reviews:
History done right.......2007-06-24
Kupperman does an excellent job of establishing the cultural, religious, and political atmosphere at the time of the colony's origins. I found it fascinating to immersive myself in the whys of the colony: why was it started, why were people interested in investing in it, etc. I also felt there were a lot of interesting parallels to the story of the colony and to that today--of how government and corporations often place financial interests far above humanitarian interests. The book also gave me a much more accurate idea of what it must have meant to be a colonist and helped dispel the myth that in fleeing England these people found a land of freedom and opportunity. It also gave me a very deep appreciation for the first settlers as without them, I surely would never be here. This excellent work does a wonderful job of providing an intelligent, in-depth examination of our origins as a country and it does so in an engaging manner so that it reads more like a novel and nothing like a dry textbook.
The Jamestown Project.......2007-05-13
Once I started it I couldn't put it down! Very factual and riveting. The author did an exceptional job of relating what these poor people actually lived to start our great nation.
A Good "Atlantic" Reworking of the Jamestown Story.......2007-03-28
Karen Ordahl Kupperman revisits territory she knows well with this latest history of Jamestown. What distinguishes Kupperman's history from the slew of other books which have come before is the very self conscious effort to put the founding of Jamestown within an Atlantic history context.
For people who are looking for a detailed history of Jamestown itself this is not the book. Instead you should perhaps try one of Dr Kupperman's other books. She only gets to the actual founding of the colony in the last two chapters of the book. Instead she discusses the world which brought about the colonization. That is the true purpose of this book and why it is called the Jamestown PROJECT. By placing the story of the colony within the larger background of financial expansion, political maneuvering, and geopolitics, Kupperman makes us very conscious of the contingency of Jamestown. This was not an inevitable event, the precursor to American history. Rather, it was the END of a long series of events and trends which contributed to the settlement there and the way it developed.
Along the way Kupperman takes us on a sweeping journey of the Early Modern world. Her topics range from the waxing and waning of Islamic powers, to the routes of Spanish expansion, to the creation of Caribbean colonies, the continental wars of 16th century Europe, and the life of Native Americans both in America and Europe. All of this is, while at times disjointed, a welcome background to the colonization of Jamestown and reframes the familiar story in illuminating ways. The background explains why the colony was founded the way it was: why did the colonists refuse to grow food? Why did they interact with the Natives the way they did? Kupperman's book is a useful one for anyone interested in the early history of America or the Atlantic world.
Book Description
One of the truly legendary figures of American history, the soldier, explorer, and colonist Captain John Smith was a vivid and prolific chronicler of the beginnings of English settlement in the New World. This volume brings together seven of his works, along with 16 additional narratives by 13 other writers, that recount firsthand the tragic, harrowing, and dramatic events of the settlement of Roanoke and Jamestown.
A founder of Jamestown in 1607, Smith's courage, determination, and leadership proved crucial to its survival. A True Relation tells of the colony's perilous first year, while The Proceedings and The Generall Historie continue the story of its struggle to survive and prosper. A Description of New England and New Englands Trials describe Smith's exploration of the northern coast and the prospects for its settlement. In The True Travels Smith recalls his adventures as a soldier in Eastern Europe and his amazing escape from Turkish slavery. Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters, his last book, is a critical examination of the successes and failures of the English colonial enterprise. Written in a consistently lively style, Smith's works are filled with suspense, astonishment, and keen observations of American Indian cultures and New World landscapes.
The 16 additional narratives include accounts of the "Lost Colony" of Roanoke, the horrific "starving time" at Jamestown, and a shipwreck off Bermuda. Amplifying and sometimes challenging Smith's version of events, these narratives capture the fear and fascination of early encounters with the Indians; the brutality, desperation, and ingenuity of settlers facing extreme hardship; the complex interplay of feuds and rivalries, both between the English and the Powhatan Indians and within the colony itself; and the enduring story of Pocahontas, who came to occupy a unique place between two cultures. Included in the volume are 29 pages of contemporary drawings, 15 of them full-color illustrations by John White.
Customer Reviews:
A must have for all who are interested in the early settlement of Virginia and New England.......2007-04-05
Captain John Smith did an amazing amount of living in the fifty-one years he lived on Earth. His life's journey began in 1580 at Willoughy, England. He left home at 16 after his father's death to become a soldier fighting in France for Dutch Independence from Spain. In other words, he was a mercenary. He went to work in the Mediterranean Sea on a merchant ship in 1598. In 1600 he went to the Austrians to fight in Hungary against the Turks and fought so valiantly that he was promoted to Captain. Fighting in Transylvania in 1602, he was wounded, captured, and sold as a slave to a Turk. He was then given to a girl who sent him to her brother to get training for Imperial service. Being very ill treated by this Pasha, Smith killed him and escaped. He fled through Russia and then Poland, was released from service, received a large reward and spent time traveling throughout Europe. During the winter of 1604-05 he returned to England. All this before the events we know him for began in Virginia and New England!
His restless nature somehow got him involved with the plans to colonize the Virginia territory for profit. King James I granted the charter and the expedition set sail on December 20, 1606. While this is more than a century after Columbus, it was still a huge and costly undertaking to what was almost unknown territory. The three tiny ships were the Discovery (20 tons), Susan Constant (120 tons), and Godspeed (40 tons). They did not land in Virginia until April 1607 after a voyage of more than four months. Smith was on the list of seven council members that was designated to govern the colony. The winter was harsh, fresh water was hard to come by, sickness ravaged the colonists, and the local Indians, ruled by Powhatan (Wahunsonacock), were antagonistic to the newcomers. Smith became the leader and led the fight against the Indian raids and negotiating with them for food enough to supplement their meager stores.
In December of 1607, the famous incident of Smith being taken to Powhatan and being saved by Pocahontas occurred. Like much in Smith's writings, it is hard to separate the braggadocio from the fact. Apparently there was some kind of ceremony that involved a ritual death and renewal of life whereby Smith became some kind of subordinate chief member of the tribe. Smith may not have understood the ceremony well and indeed may well have believed that the 11 year old princess saved his life.
Life was very hard at Jamestown and dissent grew. Smith was elected President in September 1608 and has the fort reinforced and emphasizes military training among the colonists. During the winter, Powhatan refused to provide food because he believes that the colonists are not there to trade but to take Indian lands. After difficult negotiations they trade swords and guns for food. Things continue to be difficult and now the resentment focuses on Smith. He is badly burned when his powder keg caught fire. A group leading colonists deposes Smith and he sails back to England part in resentment and part for treatment of his injuries in October.
He is active in promoting colonization of the new territories and heads back in 1614, but he cannot go to Virginia. He focuses on the area north that he called New England. Smith traveled to many areas there and in 1615 founded a colony in Maine. He is captured by a French privateer and is unable to return to England until December. In 1622, Indians kill more than 300 colonists. Smith's offer to lead the military fight against the natives is rejected.
During these years in England, Smith published some works to provide him some much needed income. He finds the right stories to tell and several of his writings sold quite well. He died in 1631 at 51 years old and was buried at St. Sepulchres in the City of London.
This summary of his life is there merest outline of events. There is much much more covered in this treasure trove of a book.
The wonderful Library of America provides us with Smith's "A True Relation", "The Proceedings of the English Colony in Virginia" (parts written by a variety of folks), "A Description of New England", "New Englands Trials" [sic], "The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles", "The True Travels", and his "Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters of New-England". The words in these titles such as "trials" and "advertisements" had a much different meaning four hundred years ago. The point was that by 1620 thousands of people were risking their lives to try to settle in Virginia and New England and they wanted information. Smith gave them good information about what they were going to face. Oh, he certainly boasted and gave himself credit for things that others did, but his descriptions of what it takes to survive there are quite good.
This volume does not contain Smith's two books on sea travel. However, it does contain an additional four hundred pages of writings by others about the settling of Virginia. One covers the settlement of Roanoke before the Jamestown voyage. Others are written independently of Smith, at least one was written in response to his "Generall Historie" that upset some who felt he took to himself their deeds. They are all fascinating.
There are also pages of black and white plates showing aspects of Smith's life and other aspects of the early settlement including etchings of Smith and even of Pocahontas (Lady Rebecca) in her English finery during her one, fatal, year in England. There is another set of plates that are in color and show Indian life at the time of the events of this book. We get many useful maps, and index, notes on the text, notes on the plates, and a chronology of Smith's life.
This is a rich text that provides important history of early American settlement that everyone interested in the founding and history of our nation will want to read and know. The early events with the Indians are fascinating as are the descriptions of the trade and battles. Even the variety of spellings are fascinating. Yes, orthography was not standardized, but it is interesting how the same words are spelled differently even within the same writing let alone between authors.
A must have for all who appreciate American history.
Book Description
Four centuries ago, and fourteen years before the Mayflower, a group of men—led by a one-armed ex-pirate, an epileptic aristocrat, a reprobate cleric and a government spy—left London aboard a fleet of three ships to start a new life in America. They arrived in Virginia in the spring of 1607 and set about trying to create a settlement on a tiny island in the James River. Despite their shortcomings, and against the odds, they built Jamestown, a ramshackle outpost that laid the foundations of the British Empire and the United States of America.
Drawing on new discoveries, neglected sources and manuscript collections scattered across the world, Savage Kingdom challenges the textbook image of Jamestown as a mere money-making venture. It reveals a reckless, daring enterprise led by outcasts of the Old World who found themselves interlopers in a new one. It charts their journey into a beautiful landscape and a sophisticated culture that they found both ravishing and alien, which they yearned to possess but threatened to destroy. They called their new home a "savage kingdom," but it was the savagery they had experienced in Europe that had driven them across the ocean and which they hoped to escape by building in America "one of the most glorious nations under the sun."
An intimate story in an epic setting, Woolley shows how the land of Pocahontas came to be drawn into a new global order, reaching from London to the Orinoco Delta, from the warring kingdoms of Angola to the slave markets of Mexico, from the gates of the Ottoman Empire to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Customer Reviews:
Great stories about our first steps..........2007-08-12
I came across this book after hearing the author interviewed on NPR on the anniversary of the Jamestown colony. From just the few minutes I managed to catch from that conversation the author had me rethinking my vague and mostly uninvestigated thoughts on that early settlement.
Wooley has a great ability to take well researched and documented accounts and weave a compelling narrative without overly indulging in fantasy or sketches compiled of heresay or assumptions.
What took me in about this book was just how much Byzantine politics and motives the early administrators of the colony had coming over from England. (i.e aliases, spies, traitors, defectors, etc.)
If you are interested in what the first steps were in The New World before Declarations and Revolutions and why they were made, I would check this out. It's an essential foundation if you are, like me, consuming our countries earliest intentions and ambitions that led us to where we are now.
Good book, with good and sometimes distracting details.......2007-08-02
With the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first colonists and founding of the first permanent British settlement in present day America, there have been a slew of books and reexaminations of the settlement. Wooley, a popular writer and broadcaster in Great Britain has contributed to this review of the Jamestown by presenting a popular history from the British viewpoint, that examines the founding of Jamestown from the perspective that tries to place Jamestown in the perspective of the new House of Stuart monarchy, a Britain with a shaken economy, and the race to make a claim in North America to compete with the Spanish Empire. Along the way, the Powhatan native tribe Chesapeake Bay have their motivations and civilization examined as this strongest of the east coast tribes.
The strongest parts of this book involve the examination of the relationship between the first settlers and the Powhatan Indians, the exploration of the Chesapeake for the first time by Europeans by Captain John Smith and why Jamestown was so important to the British government. The relationship between the founding of Virginia and the discovery of Bermuda, and why, for a time the Bermuda part of the Virginia colony was much more important economically to Britain is a nice find within a book, and Wooley does his best work of showing human drama with Bermuda.
The book is weak by dragging details of the British government out many pages past necessary for the popular reader, especially the American reader who, from the standpoint of 400 years of time will take some effort to dig into the bureaucracy of the that government for a popular history read.
If the general reader is willing to go through the 400 pages of details, at the end, he should find a great explanation for the place of Jamestown in the American, Indian and British story. The book hits its high point with its description of the first Jamestown Assembly, the first such representative government in modern times that was founded as much out of corporate business interests and a leveling out of previous British hierarchies in the American jungle.
For a popular history, Savage Kingdom shows why the British way of colonization - joint stock companies, authorized but not led by the government with a grass roots organization of the Christian church succeeded in the long run over the government/ military colonization of Latin America.
This is a fine book, but again, the general reader should be warned that it has heavy details of the details of British government among personalities that are often hard to follow.
Book Description
Just in time for the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation offers its own comprehensive guide to Virginia's "Historic Triangle." It was in 1607 at Jamestown that John Smith and his fellow Englishmen established the first permanent settlement in North America. It was here that Smith met Pocahontas, that the first representative assembly in the New World convened, and that the first African slaves arrived. Just a few miles down the road is Williamsburg, where men like George Washington, Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Thomas Jefferson conceived a new nation. The third point in the Triangle, also just a few miles away, is Yorktown, where French and American troops under Washington's command forced the British surrender and won the nation's independence. If you are among the millions who will visit in 2007 and beyond, this lively and lavishly illustrated guide will tell you everything you need to know about the places where America was born, along with all the practical information you'll need to make the most of your trip.
Customer Reviews:
Don't leave home without it!.......2007-05-09
This is the most wonderful Historic Triangle guide I've ever seen. I just returned from a 5 day stay in that area and this book told me what I needed to know to enjoy 100% of the areas I was interested in. My focus was not on shopping or eating as much as the actual history of the triangle area and I got what I needed to set out an itinerary that satisfied me totally and then some. The only thing that I wasn't able to plan ahead for was seeing the Queen of England twice in Williamsburg! You can feel comfortable in using this guide and gaining the level of historical involvement that you desire.
useful and entertaining.......2007-03-20
This book is a wonderful resource, not only for visitors but also for those of us who live in the area. I've been in Williamsburg and James City for more than 15 years, but even I am discovering all sorts of places to go and things to do here. And the sections on the history of the area are tremendous fun to read.
Book Description
Long before Harry Houdini thrilled the world with his impossible deeds, America had produced an escape artist whose biography reads like an adventure novel.
Many readers will know John Smith as the man rescued from death by Pocahontas, but Smith's story included a series of fantastic episodes: escape from imprisonment, ambush by Indians, attacks by ruthless sea pirates, and more escapades than seem possible in one life.
Now, just in time for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, author Rosalyn Schanzer recounts the full details of John Smith's eventful life in her engaging storytelling style, complemented with a series of entertaining illustrations.
Smith's role as the president of the pioneering colony of Jamestown is well known to schoolchildren. Schanzer's compelling narrative adds the perspective of Smith's English background to his better known adventures in America. Readers are given a complete portrait of the intrepid explorer and adventurer, of the fighter whose battling spirit always prevailed, and of the writer whose work was to shape the idea of the American Dream.
Smith's story is punctuated by several impossibly daring escapes. His final escape left us with the rich legacy of his life story: through his writings, he escaped the fate of dying unknown. He returned to England as a poor man with a rich trove of memories, spending his final years writing the popular books that defined colonial America in tales of excitement and courage.
Customer Reviews:
John Smith Escapes Again!.......2007-04-24
A delightfully illustrated adventure book for children telling a true story. The author has thoroughly researched the life of John Smith 1580 - 1631, who was a famous son of Lincolnshire, England and who became the first president of Jamestown in Virginia Colony, America. This was the first permanent English settlement in the New World. Rosalyn Schanzer's attention to authentic detail and her beautifully drawn illustrations are excellent. This book brings history alive for children - and their parents!
Book Description
The voyage that shaped early America was neither that of the Susan Constant in 1607 nor the Mayflower in 1620. Absolutely vital to the formation of English-speaking America was the voyage made by some sixty Africans stolen from a Spanish slave ship and brought to the young struggling colony of Jamestown in 1619. It was an act of colonial piracy that angered King James I of England, causing him to carve up the Virginia Company’s monopoly for virtually all of North America. It was an infusion of brave and competent souls who were essential to Jamestown’s survival and success. And it was the arrival of pioneers who would fire the first salvos in the centuries-long African-American battle for liberation. Until now, it has been buried by historians.
Four hundred years after the birth of English-speaking America, as a nation turns its attention to its ancestry, The Birth of Black America reconstructs the true origins of the United States and of the African-American experience.
Customer Reviews:
African Americans and their background.......2007-08-07
This book is excellent for 1) putting the arrival of Africans at Jamestown in context both in European (English, Spanish and Portuguese) politics of the time, and 2) giving in great detail the political, social and economic situation of the Angolan kingdom whence these Africans originated. The activities of the Spanish ambassador to the court of King James is enjoyable diplomatic intrigue; the relation of James to Africa is convincing and should be part of literary studies of Ben Jonson's work. I was amazed to learn that many of the enslaved Africans had Christian backgrounds of several generations, and familiarity with European languages and customs, resulting from Portuguese colonization and missionary activities for more than a century prior. Hashaw does himself credit in showing the similarities and differences in the political and military activities and alliances of these African and European rulers and aristocracies. In addition, he shows in great detail the identities, activities and onward movements of these Africans and their descendents (who are normally anonymous figures in standard histories), and gives credible evidence on the origin of the Melungeon families of Appalachia, and insight into the contributions of Africans to cattle herding and to agricultural success in the Americas. A real page-turner -- a riveting and enlightening account that makes fresh some once-stale facts from your obligatory American history class.
The Birth of Black America: The First African Americans and the Pursuit of Freedom at Jamestown.......2007-03-30
The book was excellent!
Average customer rating:
- Nicely paced read...I learned a lot and enjoyed it
- Timely read! Made me want to visit Jamestown again!
- What a great read, please tell us more of Smith's earlier story
- Good, readable popular history, but with a doozy of a mistake
- Engaging
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Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of a New Nation
David A. Price
Manufacturer: Vintage
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1400031729
Release Date: 2005-01-04 |
Book Description
A New York Times Notable Book and a
San Jose Mercury News Top 20 Nonfiction Book of 2003
In 1606, approximately 105 British colonists sailed to America, seeking gold and a trade route to the Pacific. Instead, they found disease, hunger, and hostile natives. Ill prepared for such hardship, the men responded with incompetence and infighting; only the leadership of Captain John Smith averted doom for the first permanent English settlement in the New World.
The Jamestown colony is one of the great survival stories of American history, and this book brings it fully to life for the first time. Drawing on extensive original documents, David A. Price paints intimate portraits of the major figures from the formidable monarch Chief Powhatan, to the resourceful but unpopular leader John Smith, to the spirited Pocahontas, who twice saved Smith’s life. He also gives a rare balanced view of relations between the settlers and the natives and debunks popular myths about the colony. This is a superb work of history, reminding us of the horrors and heroism that marked the dawning of our nation.
Customer Reviews:
Nicely paced read...I learned a lot and enjoyed it.......2007-07-10
I really enjoyed this work and enjoyed its pacing and the way the author weaved the historical narrative with the characters and the sense of timeline. A great overview of the period and I would recommend this one. A well balanced book to help the reader understand the period and how things were viewed. In fact I was anxious to see if I could get other books by this author!
Timely read! Made me want to visit Jamestown again!.......2007-05-07
Easy read. Couldn't imagine how I missed some of these details in US History, but nonetheless so glad I picked it up - could not put it down.
What a great read, please tell us more of Smith's earlier story.......2007-04-12
Love and Hate in Jamestown is a very enjoyable and very readable antidote to the usual Pocahontas nonsense cooked up by disney and more recently presented in the new world. Chock full of well researched facts and anecdotes about this remarkable chapter in America's history. Price's accounts about John Smith's life before he came to Virginia sounds at least as fascinating as what he achieved once he was in Virginia. He stands as one of the archetypes of the early Americans, combining all of those qualities good and bad, which have ultimately defined us as a people.
Good, readable popular history, but with a doozy of a mistake.......2007-04-05
Smoothly written and, for the most part, well edited, this is probably a fine introduction to the history of the Virginia colony in the early 17th century.
There are two flaws, one minor and one major. First, the author (or, more likely, the editors) sometimes dumbs down too much (e.g., he takes a paragraph to explain what "trade winds" are, and defines "longitude"--readers would either know about these already or have a dictionary at hand). Second, the book's one map of eastern Virginia has an inexcusable error: Jamestown is shown to be in the area of modern-day Fort Eustis, about 10 miles east of where it really was! This is equivalent to publishing an account of the New Netherlands with a map showing New Amsterdam in the Bronx, or one of the New England Puritans that has them siting Boston where Newton is. I hope this was noticed and fixed for the paperback and other editions.
Engaging.......2007-01-20
I really enjoyed reading this book. I found myself anxious to get home to read it every night. Price was very informative and his writing flowed nicely. My wife and I look forward to our trip to Jamestown for the 400th anniversary.
Customer Reviews:
An Americas Approach.......2007-07-30
Americans are usually presented with our history beginning with the English settlement of Jamestown. However we are a diverse nation with numerous origins. Besides English settlement the Spanish were in the Borderlands or underbelly of the US from California to Florida while the French settled Quebec and the Mid-Continent. This work takes a broader comparative approach to our history. It also includes the European interaction with Native Americans and thus includes four peoples who were involved with the early history of the United States. For those seeking addition information the book contains a fine set of bibliographical notes. The images greatly enhance the narrative. I strongly recommed this work to anyone seeking a comparative study of American history. This work, following the tradition of 20th century Americas historian, Herbert E. Bolton is a welcome addition.
Russell M. Magnaghi
Professor of History
Northern Michigan University
Book Description
Although it was the first permanent English settlement in North America, Jamestown is too often overlooked in the writing of American history. Founded thirteen years before the Mayflower sailed, Jamestown's courageous settlers have been overshadowed ever since by the pilgrims of Plymouth. But as historian James Horn demonstrates in this vivid and meticulously researched account, Jamestown-not Plymouth-was the true crucible of American history. Jamestown introduced slavery into English-speaking North America; it became the first of England's colonies to adopt a representative government; and it was the site of the first white-Indian clashes over territorial expansion. As we approach the four-hundredth anniversary of Jamestown in 2007, A Land As God Made It offers the definitive account of the colony that give rise to America.
Customer Reviews:
Intriguing look at the Virginia Company @ Jamestown.......2007-06-17
As other reviewers have stated, most Americans know precious little about this early English colonial attempt in America; even fewer remember Roanoke, but many recall the Puritan landing at Plymouth Rock.
James Horn has attempted to correct this imbalance by writing this clear, lucid, and colorful history of the settlers at Jamestown - the only thing missing from his title is that this story is almost one of the colonial efforts of the Virginia Company more than just the story of Jamestown. However, the book does focus on the exploits, trials, and tribulations of the early settlers in Jamestown and surrounding plantations.
The book largely focuses on the early years of the settlement, including the exploits of Captain John Smith and the interactions with the native Americans, but runs all the way through the bankruptcy of the Virginia company and the transition from a private enterprise to a royal colony. Horn speculates as to the value of the Jamestown settlement at the conclusion of the book - although his speculation is well reasoned, it would take multiple additional volumes to bring to fruition his thoughts.
Excellent.......2007-01-03
Like many people, prior to reading this book my knowledge of Jamestown and early American colonization were quite limited and could have fit in a thimble. Author James Horn has done what will soon be considered a classic and a masterpiece on this subject.
From the initial foothold onto American soil in 1607 by John Smith, Captain Christopher Newport, Bartholomew Gosnold, John Ratcliffe and a total of 144 adventurers, we develop an understanding as to the trials and tribulations of colonizing and conquest in a foreign land spanning two decades of time. Hunger, disease, Indian hostilities and moral fiber are at its tautest for establishing settlements in such a vast unexplored region.
Horn's respectable character analyses of Powhatan Chief Wahunsonacock and his brother Opechancanough, along with the great many other personalities involved on both sides, gives this rendition a profound and discerning look into how America began.
An authoritative and lively read.
Excellent insight into early American history.......2006-11-16
I found this book to be most informative and interesting. Horn paints a picture of a dysfunctional settlement that barely endured long enough to become a colony. The conventional wisdom is that the Jamestown settlers were adventurers and younger sons of nobility who sought easy riches and refused to do the work necessary to sustain a settlement such as building and planting. In contrast, the Puritans in New England were hard working, pious, and a much better model for American colonization. I don't know whether the Puritan myth is true, but Horn seems to agree that Jamestown's myth is fairly accurate.
He seems to be ambivalent about John Smith: while he doesn't seem to like Smith much, he describes him as one of the few seeking to get the settlement self-sustaining rather than putting up with idleness and depending on the Indians for food. In this portrayal Smith is very arrogant and makes some serious mistakes, but no more than others, and he does try to establish productive relations with the Indians, which subsequent leaders failed to do.
I particularly liked the author's liberal use of quotations from source material. They made the narrative more lively and more personal. I hope Dr. Horn keeps writing.
An Outstanding Account of the Establishment of a British Colony in North America.......2006-11-06
"A Land as God Made It" tells in magnificent fashion the story of the formation of the Jamestown colony in what became Virginia, the first permanent British outpost in North America. Established in 1607 and therefore approaching its 400th anniversary, the colonists of Jamestown contended with an entirely new environment, with Native Americans, starvation, interpersonal difficulties, and a host of other challenges to succeed in creating this colony. The work narrates in an exciting and accessible fashion the dramatic actions of Captain John Smith and his troupe in Virginia. The most critical element of their early survival rested on Smith's relationships with the Powhatans, the native peoples of the region who helped the colonists through several difficult experiences. Author James Horns also tells here the story of Smith and Pocahontas, a story both more complex and intriguing than that offered in the Disney version of American history.
In search of wealth, glory, and the conversion of the natives to Christianity, the Virginia colony survived by a thread for its first decade. It survived a succession of crises until John Rolfe proved that tobacco could earn a profit, and thereby placed the colony on a path toward self-sustainment. The very success of the colony demonstrated that the British were a serious threat to the Powhatan way of life and in 1622 they rebelled in a bloody war that lasted several years before the native peoples were defeated. Although the Virginia colony survived this war, but just barely, it decimated the joint stock company that oversaw it, and in 1625 Virginia became a royal colony under the suzerainty of the King of England.
This is a very skillfully written account of the first twenty years of the Virginia colony, demonstrating very clearly how the British established a foothold in North America. It is a worthwhile and at times exciting reading experience. Enjoy!
Where It All Began.......2006-05-10
James Horn spotlights Jamestown and places it on the historical map. THE LAND AS GOD MADE IT: JAMESTOWN AND THE BIRTH OF AMERICA offers a definitive narrative about the first English settlement in North America, and finally gives Jamestown its due after centuries of school textbooks placing Massachusetts and the Pilgrims at the forefront of American history. In commemoration of the establishment of the Jamestown colony in 1607, Horn examines the importance of the settlement economically and religiously, and how it affected the relationship between the English, Spanish, and Powhatan Indians.
Horn balances his narrative with the discussion of the origins of the founding of the settlement and the events that occurred thereafter. He examines how the English planned to utilize natural resources and produce manufactured goods in order to be self-sufficient from England suggest that the English wanted to establish a mercantile industry in Virginia as well rival the Spanish empire in all aspects, which also included religion. Missionaries attempted to convert Native Americans and Africans toward Christianity. Horn emphasizes that "England's claim to vast lands between Spanish Florida in the South and French territories in the far North that were inhabited by the Europeans" (285). The book acknowledges the success of the Jamestown colony and clarifies misconceptions and myths that have been indoctrinated within the historical narrative. Horn does not romanticize the Jamestown story and those who contributed to the establishment of the settlement, and debunks myths that existed between John Smith and Pocahontas.
As an after thought, Horn emphasizes the significance of Jamestown and the affects of major historical events. He makes important points how the Revolutionary War and the Civil War affected its past representation within the historical narrative, and how professional historians from northern universities were responsible for somewhat skewing representation of the origins of where the United States was established. Horn suggests that historians preferred to regionalize history as part of some kind of rivalry that existed between New England and the South after the American Revolution, which contributed to the foundation myth.
Overall, THE LAND AS GOD MADE IT is the first place to start when reading or studying about the roots of the founding of the United States. It all began in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, and not at Plymouth Rock. This is an important narrative when understanding the history of North America and the United States.
Book Description
The story of the feisty, determined Lizzie of Pat Hermes' Our Strange New Land continues in this installment with the departure of both Captain John Smith and Lizzie's dear friend, Jessie. Facing new challenges, Lizzie records in her new diary all of the challenges that face the struggling colony. As a result of starvation and disease, Lizzed watches hopelessly as many of the settlers die. She records all of this, but even more, she records the intimate lives of the children who remain there, along with that of her new baby sister.
Customer Reviews:
Good way to get kids interested in History.......2007-07-17
Very well written, though it did tend to push the "Indian good, white man bad" agenda which is not historically accurate in this case. It should be noted that this is NOT an actual diary but a recently written book that is composed in diary form. My daughter enjoyed it but I would recommend that you do a little follow-up by dividing the historical "wheat from the chaff".
The great book........2004-03-13
When I first got this book I didn't want to let it go . It was so interseting that I didn't want to go to sleep.The part I liked was that Elizabeth's mom had a baby. Also that Elizabeth and Jessie asked Captain John Smith if he can go back to England and say hi to Caleb. I had fun reading this book.If you heard about this book then check it out.
A sad but good book.......2004-01-14
This book tells about nine-year-old Elizabeth Barker, an English girl who has come to live in the Jamestown colony in 1609. Food is very scarce, and many people are starving. Many people die, including Elizabeth's friend and mother. But she also makes another friend, a really nice one, and her twin brother, Caleb, who was too ill to travel with Elizabeth and her parents before, finally arrives on the spring supply ship, which also has food. By the end of the book, the colony is a peaceful place to be.
A book all people should read.......2003-10-31
I am a 9 year old girl who loved this book. I think it had great adventures in it and it was historical. It was not a hard book to read, but was very interesting.
top one of the best.......2003-03-30
I am almost in 6th grade and it is great for-girls book. Boys can read it to. I had to go to three schools until I came on the inter net and bought it. It is my all favorite book.
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