American Colonies: The Settling of North America, Vol. 1

As of the date of writing this review, Alan Taylor has won two Pulitzer Prizes. I was fairly shocked to learn that this book was not a Pulitzer Prize winner. With Alan Taylor as the author and Eric Foner as the editor, this book packs a devastating one-two punch. It is used in many institutions as a textbook or main secondary source of the era before the American Revolution. It is relatively easy to read. Any freshman college student should have no difficulty with American Colonies. Neither should anyone else who reads it.This is supposed to be the first volume of a five volume series entitled The Penguin History of the United States. Unfortunately, it appears that only one other volume in the series was completed. This entry stands alone easily and for many is the definitive one volume work on the American colonies from their establishment to the Revolution. However, do not be fooled into thinking it is the quintessential work on the era. Taylor’s book was made for a wide audience and did not dive as deep into the era as a much larger work would have. What Taylor did do was explore the colonization of North America from a much wider perspective than just the traditional Anglo-American centric view which has dominated American historical thought until recently. In doing this Taylor explored new directions of historiography into various subfields of history. The result is a book that shows just how complex history actually is.American Colonies seeks to answer the why questions of history. Taylor weaves the multiple themes historians explore in each era together to form a narrative that conveys what occurred in the past and why these events happened. I was particularly interested to see how he would treat the development of chattel slavery in the colonies. He condensed much of Edmund Morgan’s great exploration of the subject into seven pages which while not an in depth expose of slavery itself, managed to explain to the reader how slavery got its start in the colonies. The excerpt is quite useful for instructing students in American history survey courses where time is short and depth is needed.This is just one example of the utilities involved in the making of this book. It is full of sections like this one on slavery which can be used in the classroom when an instructor is making a point. It is also very useful for instructors to have as support for their textbooks. In some cases, the book is the textbook. Taylor’s credentials as a master historian are beyond dispute. The result is an outstanding book written by a master historian, edited by another master historian, and presented to a wide audience for their learning pleasure. Books like this are rare and should be savored. I for one enjoyed reading this book and recommend it for others interested in American history, especially in the colonial era.

Alan Taylor's "American Colonies" is a must read for anyone interested in understanding the complex mosaic that makes up the Americas, and especially the North Americas, today. It is fascinating from the first sentence to the last. Rich in detail, non-repetitive and insightful he weaves a tapestry in parts until the whole becomes clear and understandable.To approach this broad subject topically would result in the themes, mores and prejudices of the present being retrofitted to the past, instead he approaches the material regionally and shows how each region "progresses" through time. This progression is temporal but not necessarily cultural or suggestive of improvement. However, Taylor refrains from value judgements and is trictly factual in his approach despite reporting on base motives and actions that ensure that every page is a new revelation. He takes neither sides nor prisoners in his multifaceted view of the various particpants in the colonial struggles: the english, africans, french, indian tribes, spanish, etc. He concerns himself not only with the activities in the Americas, but also explains what was happening back home in England, Europe and Africa to provoke the colonialisation movement. The role of the churches and the religious movement is also dealt with thoroughly.Taylor describes not only the broad movements, but also the individuals that shaped the continent. Again he deals as objectively with English Lords, Indian Chiefs, Spanish clerics and French Aristocrats as he does with pirates and Sugar barons. He describes how their ambitions and pecuniary pressures drove them to their decisions and how glory was given not necessarily to the good but to the good subjects. He shows too the social and economic pressures that resulted in the differing waves of colonisation from different countries at differing times and how people faced incredible suffering and deprivation due to their lack of alternative choices, or due to direct coercion.Through all of this the reader gets a very clear picture of how the different regions develop not only individually, but also in relation to the other. As the occurences in one region mostly had an effect on others (sometimes by design and other times consequentially) the reader gradually builds a picture of how elements interacted to form the totality at each period of time. This effect was brought about by war, influencing war in others, disease, accident, deforestation, agriculture, atrocities and a multitude of other causes and effects. Thus, over the centuries the inexorable march of colonisation took place.Taylor begins in prehistory and ends approximately where the American Revolution starts, although this differs again by region. The period before the arrival of the Europeans is as fascinating as the period thereafter. Indeed every period is riveting.This is one of the best books that I have ever read. I can absolutely recommend it to anybody who wishes to achieve at least a modicum of understanding of the modern american peoples. Whether it is the origin of Quebec separatism, New England puritanism, the baptist movement, or any multitude of aspects of modern North America, "American Colonies" will give the reader a firm basis for understanding the apparent contradictions, idiosynchracies and demographic dispersions of NA as well as the later developments of the 18th, 19th, 20th and now the 21st centuries.

I'm only 40 pages in so far, so I may have to update the review, but so far this book is mediocre. It feels like it was written by a college undergrad trying to fill a page quota, as opposed to an author who's interested in teaching people about history. This book is aggravating to me for these main reasons...1) He rephrases and repeats the same things too many times...2) He'll make a note or comment that's unrelated to the topic he's talking about, and it doesn't anything meaningful to the conversation...3) He'll reintroduce characters multiple times, instead of introducing them properly right from the outset (page 18 - "Another 17th century New Englander, Thomas Morton, decided... " page 20 - "Thomas Morton, a fur trader in New England...")4) His section on the Hohokam and Anasazi is very nonspecific and broad. He should have added maps to help readers see what's happening. People buy 500 page books to try to understand what's happening by reading the book, not by looking things up on the internet as a supplementation.5) I'm 40 pages into the book, and have highlighted only about 2 pages worth of meaningful information. The rest is just meaningless fluff.EDIT... His writing gets better and the book gets more informative and interesting after the archaic period. His maps are almost worthless though.