Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War

Book Description

From the bestselling author of In the Heart of the SeaÂ—winner of the National Book AwardÂ—the startling story of the Plymouth Colony

From the perilous ocean crossing to the shared bounty of the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrim settlement of New England has become enshrined as our most sacred national myth. Yet, as bestselling author Nathaniel Philbrick reveals in his spellbinding new book, the true story of the Pilgrims is much more than the well-known tale of piety and sacrifice; it is a fifty-five-year epic that is at once tragic, heroic, exhilarating, and profound.

The MayflowerÂ's religious refugees arrived in Plymouth Harbor during a period of crisis for Native Americans as disease spread by European fishermen devastated their populations. Initially the two groupsÂ—the Wampanoags, under the charismatic and calculating chief Massasoit, and the Pilgrims, whose pugnacious military officer Miles Standish was barely five feet tallÂ—maintained a fragile working relationship. But within decades, New England would erupt into King PhilipÂ's War, a savagely bloody conflict that nearly wiped out English colonists and natives alike and forever altered the face of the fledgling colonies and the country that would grow from them.

With towering figures like William Bradford and the distinctly American hero Benjamin Church at the center of his narrative, Philbrick has fashioned a fresh and compelling portrait of the dawn of American historyÂ—a history dominated right from the start by issues of race, violence, and religion.

Customer Reviews:

Mayflower.......2007-10-18

The history presented by Nathaniel Philbrick is very interesting and gives a person a more personable view of the Mayflower families and times (as well as of the Indians in New England). I found his information to be quite complete and filled in a lot of history that has not been published before that I know of.

Unraveling a Myth.......2007-10-18

" Wherever they first set foot on the American continent, it wasn't Plymouth, and it certainly wasn't Plymouth Rock. The first Thanksgiving (in 1621) was indeed attended by Indians as well as Pilgrims, but they didn't sit at the tidy table depicted in Victorian popular art; they "stood, squatted, or sat on the ground as they clustered around outdoor fires, where the deer and birds turned on wooden spits and where pottages -- stews into which varieties of meats and vegetables were thrown -- simmered invitingly."

- Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick

How many of us grew up with myths about the Pilgrims and about the first Thanksgiving? We all believed that the Pilgrims and the Indians sat at a beautiful table laden with turkey, cranberries and all of the fixings. Not only was that not the case, they certainly didn't set foot on Plymouth Rock.

Philbrick puts these myths to rest. And he tells us about the beginning of our new country and what was the basis for its foundation. Our myths contained stories about Massasoit and Squanto, Bradford and Winslow and, of course, Miles Standish.

One of the major accounts in the book was that of the King Philip's War. We learned that it really did not have to be. Both sides could have developed solutions which respected the goodness in each other as well as the differences.

We learned about how the Indians were shipped off to foreign places during this war and were separated from all of their families and tribes....never to be heard from again (having been made slaves). Only a few ever made it back like Squanto, for example.

Philbrick discusses why the war occurred after so many years of peace and why the descendants of Massasoit and of Bradford and Winslow came to see things differently than their fathers; losing sight of the faith and the respect for the individual that their forefathers had long revered. They also blocked out the memory of how they all needed one another to survive.

The Mayflower Compact, we learn, is one document that laid the foundations for the country that America was to become. Yet, our forefathers had to live through a nightmare of a war (of their own making) where both sides suffered tremendously. It took many years after the war ended to ever recoup even a portion of what was lost.

Philbrick's book is a story of courage, community and war on both sides as well as a story of how our forefathers lost sight of what the Indians had done for their ancestors and their fathers and what was owed to these people. In doing so, they also lost sight of the need for diplomacy and how to work together to come up with solutions that would be good for both the settlers as well as the Indians.

MAYFLOWER has won many awards and the book deserves all of them. What I have come away with deals first with the myth. This was unraveled for me so that I could understand and gain knowledge of the facts of these early settlements. I learned what worked, what didn't work and why the peaceful compact fell apart. I also learned that we can gain a lot from understanding our past and that we do not have to make the same mistakes over again.

Nathaniel Philbrick has given us hope that our future does not always have to resemble our past. He wrote, "When violence and fear grip a society, there is an almost overpowering temptation to demonize the enemy. But some on both sides refused to succumb. They were the ones whose rambunctious and intrinsically rebellious faith in humanity finally brought the war to an end, and they are the heroes of this story."

During the times that we face now, our heroes can continue to be those leaders and citizens who strive to focus on the faith in humanity and celebrate our differences as well as our similarities finding solutions rather than reasons to turn away from each other.

Four Stars: B+ (Recommend Highly)

Bentley/2007
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War

Not what I was hoping for.......2007-10-13

I couldn't get into this book because it was very different from what I thought it would be. I expected "Mayflower" to be a detailed account of why the pilgrims decided to journey to America, and also a vivid description of what life aboard the Mayflower was actually like. The book did cover those things, but only for a few short pages. Most of the book is devoted to the history of Plymouth Colony and King Philip's War. Author Nataniel Philbrick does an excellent job of shooting down the myths many people believe about what the pilgrim settlement was actually like, but I was much more interested in reading about the actual Mayflower journey and was disappointed that so little information about that event was included in this 400+ page book. "Mayflower" should be called "King Philip's War" so readers know what they're getting into.

Educational book.......2007-09-26

This is a very informative, accurate writing of our history. More people should read and know the real history of our country.

Not what I expected, but.......2007-09-16

the book was still a captivating piece of literature. I read this directly after reading In the Heart of the Sea by Philbrick, and was expecting the same type of story. That was not the case however. The title is a bit misleading in that one thinks they are going to be reading (or at least I did) a story of the journey. The subtitle should have cued me in. The book is about the struggle between the settlers and the natives more so than it is about the voyage to the new world. All that being said, I still loved the book. I gave the book four stars because I wish there was more about the actual voyage, and I think the title is a little misleading. All in all though, it is a superb piece of literature.

Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West

Average customer rating:

Fremont's Reputation
one of the best
Thoroughly engrossing biography of Kit Carson
Reads almost like a novel!
Blood and Thunder

Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West
Hampton Sides
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

ASIN: 0385507771
Release Date: 2006-10-03

Book Description

Praise for Blood and Thunder

“Kit Carson’s role in the conquest of the Navajo during and after the Civil War remains one of the most dramatic and significant episodes in the history of the American West. Hampton Sides portrays Carson in the larger context of the conquest of the entire West, including his frequent and often lethal encounters with hostile Native Americans. Unusually, Sides gives full voice to Indian leaders themselves about their trials and tribulations in their dealings with the whites. Here is a national hero on the level of Daniel Boone, presented with all of his flaws and virtues, in the context of American people’s belief that it was their Manifest Destiny to occupy the entire West.”

—Howard Lamar, Sterling Professor Emeritus of History, Yale University and editor of The New Encyclopedia of the American West

“The story of the American West has seldom been told with such intimacy and immediacy. Legendary figures like Kit Carson leap to life and history moves at a pulse-pounding pace—sweeping the reader along with it. Hampton Sides is a terrific storyteller.”

—Candice Millard, author of The River of Doubt

“Hampton Sides doesn't just write a book, he transports the reader to another time and place. With his keen sense of drama and his crackling writing style, this master storyteller has bequeathed us a majestic history of the Old West.”

—James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys

“Blood and Thunder is a big-hearted book whose subject is as expansive as they come. Hampton Sides tackles it with naked pleasure and narrative cunning: In his telling, the vast saga of America’s westward push has a logical center. The dusty town of Santa Fe becomes the nexus around which swirl the fortunes and strategies of a mixed set of serious overachievers, from Kit Carson, the original mountain man, to James K. Polk, the enigmatic president whose achievements, in the dreaded name of Manifest Destiny, were almost biblical in scope. Sides is alive to the exuberance and alert to the tragedy of the taking of the West.”

—Russell Shorto, author of Island at the Center of the World

“For a huge percentage of us immigrant Americans (those whose ancestors arrived after 1492), Hampton Sides fills a gaping hole in our knowledge of American history—a vivid account of how ‘The New Men’ swept away the thriving civilizations of the Native Americans in their conquest of the West.”

—Tony Hillerman

"BLOOD AND THUNDER is a balanced, thoughtful summary of the American conquistadors in the 19th century Southwest. Hampton Sides has re-created violent events and such inflammatory figures as Kit Carson without bias. Carefully researched, thoroughly enjoyable."

-Evan S. Connell, author of SON OF THE MORNING STAR, CUSTER AND THE LITTLE BIGHORN

A Magnificent History of How the West Was Really Won—a Sweeping Tale of Shame and Glory

In the fall of 1846 the venerable Navajo warrior Narbona, greatest of his people’s chieftains, looked down upon the small town of Santa Fe, the stronghold of the Mexican settlers he had been fighting his whole long life. He had come to see if the rumors were true—if an army of blue-suited soldiers had swept in from the East and utterly defeated his ancestral enemies. As Narbona gazed down on the battlements and cannons of a mighty fort the invaders had built, he realized his foes had been vanquished—but what did the arrival of these “New Men” portend for the Navajo?

Narbona could not have known that “The Army of the West,” in the midst of the longest march in American military history, was merely the vanguard of an inexorable tide fueled by a self-righteous ideology now known as “Manifest Destiny.” For twenty years the Navajo, elusive lords of a huge swath of mountainous desert and pasturelands, would ferociously resist the flood of soldiers and settlers who wished to change their ancient way of life or destroy them.

Hampton Sides’s extraordinary book brings the history of the American conquest of the West to ringing life. It is a tale with many heroes and villains, but as is found in the best history, the same person might be both. At the center of it all stands the remarkable figure of Kit Carson—the legendary trapper, scout, and soldier who embodies all the contradictions and ambiguities of the American experience in the West. Brave and clever, beloved by his contemporaries, Carson was an illiterate mountain man who twice married Indian women and understood and respected the tribes better than any other American alive. Yet he was also a cold-blooded killer who willingly followed orders tantamount to massacre. Carson’s almost unimaginable exploits made him a household name when they were written up in pulp novels known as “blood-and-thunders,” but now that name is a bitter curse for contemporary Navajo, who cannot forget his role in the travails of their ancestors.

Customer Reviews:

Fremont's Reputation.......2007-10-14

This is an excellent book except for the Fremont-bashing that seems to be fashionable. It is especially distressing that the material about Fremont came from a non-historical work with no scholarly background entitled "A Newer World". The author would have been better advised to supply his own supporting references. That is enough of a reason to knock off a star.

one of the best.......2007-10-13

If you have any interest in American History please read this book. We read the entire book outloud, quite an undertaking, so I'm glad to see that is available as an audiobook. The writing is riveting, the bibliography reassuring, the story enlightening. This book is a springboard into the conquest of the Western United States and will give you new eyes if and when traveling through these areas. Read the book.

Thoroughly engrossing biography of Kit Carson.......2007-10-12

This is an excellent biography of a famous American pioneer--Kit Carson. What sets it apart is its humane treatment of a complex figure. Carson appears to have been the "real deal," not a manufactured hero.

The book proceeds by interweaving several story lines, which can be somewhat confusing at times but, in the end, this serves the author well. Among the story lines--Kit Carson's exploits, the Navajo leader Narbona's story, General Stephen Kearney's episodes, and so on.

Kit Carson's role--from trapper to hunter to scout to military officer--is the glue that holds this book together. In the process, the reader learns a great deal about the events of the 1830s through 1860s that transformed the United States. The Mexican War dramatically expanded the size of the country; the American conflicts with the Indian nations opened new territories for settlement and economic development; the Civil War ended slavery (although, ironically, perhaps not in the southwest, as Native Americans sometimes served a similar role after the Civil War); the West was opened for development.

What humanizes this book is the treatment of Carson. He was sometimes mercurial (with an occasional burst of temper); he was a person of action, and he sometimes was cruel and brutal; he was also a person of honor; he had a perception of the larger picture in the West, and could see that white aggression was the real problem--not marauding Indians.

On a personal note, the book traces Carson's family lives (he had at least two real families, one with a native American wife), his struggle to be a good husband and father while he was off on one adventure or another most of his life.

This is a strong biography which is set in a larger context. It is well worth looking at.

Reads almost like a novel!.......2007-10-12

I first encountered this book when I heard the author speak at our local bookstore. I am a history lover and wanted to know if this man could pull of another interesting book on American History. I had a copy of the book ready and took copious notes on the blank pages in the back. The author was fascinating to listen to.

Since then, I have read the book thoroughly and found it read almost like a novel. Each chapter led you to want to read on.

I have purchased copies as gifts for friends and even gave a copy to my American Indian History professor and he was enthralled.

Good work. Loved it. You will, too.

Blood and Thunder.......2007-10-09

This is a highly readable and comprehensive account of the adult life and times of Kit Carson and the people/places he touched. It's not a biography, but a series of vignettes documenting his involvement in a variety of professions -- from mountain man to military man -- as the needs of the West evolved. There's a great deal of information about Carson's contemporaries as well. I read the book with a map of New Mexico at hand to more closely identify the places mentioned. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Western history, including the several battles of the Civil War fought in New Mexico.

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

Average customer rating:

a great overview
Unputdownable
Excellent insight into the latest research
Fascinating but flawed
Great history, great archeology, great read

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
Charles C. Mann
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1400032059
Release Date: 2006-10-10

Amazon.com

1491 is not so much the story of a year, as of what that year stands for: the long-debated (and often-dismissed) question of what human civilization in the Americas was like before the Europeans crashed the party. The history books most Americans were (and still are) raised on describe the continents before Columbus as a vast, underused territory, sparsely populated by primitives whose cultures would inevitably bow before the advanced technologies of the Europeans. For decades, though, among the archaeologists, anthropologists, paleolinguists, and others whose discoveries Charles C. Mann brings together in 1491, different stories have been emerging. Among the revelations: the first Americans may not have come over the Bering land bridge around 12,000 B.C. but by boat along the Pacific coast 10 or even 20 thousand years earlier; the Americas were a far more urban, more populated, and more technologically advanced region than generally assumed; and the Indians, rather than living in static harmony with nature, radically engineered the landscape across the continents, to the point that even "timeless" natural features like the Amazon rainforest can be seen as products of human intervention.

Mann is well aware that much of the history he relates is necessarily speculative, the product of pot-shard interpretation and precise scientific measurements that often end up being radically revised in later decades. But the most compelling of his eye-opening revisionist stories are among the best-founded: the stories of early American-European contact. To many of those who were there, the earliest encounters felt more like a meeting of equals than one of natural domination. And those who came later and found an emptied landscape that seemed ripe for the taking, Mann argues convincingly, encountered not the natural and unchanging state of the native American, but the evidence of a sudden calamity: the ravages of what was likely the greatest epidemic in human history, the smallpox and other diseases introduced inadvertently by Europeans to a population without immunity, which swept through the Americas faster than the explorers who brought it, and left behind for their discovery a land that held only a shadow of the thriving cultures that it had sustained for centuries before. --Tom Nissley

A 1491 Timeline

Europe and Asia

Dates

The Americas

25000-35000 B.C.

Time of paleo-Indian migration to Americas from Siberia, according to genetic evidence. Groups likely traveled across the Pacific in boats.

Wheat and barley grown from wild ancestors in Sumer.

6000

5000

In what many scientists regard as humankind's first and greatest feat of genetic engineering, Indians in southern Mexico systematically breed maize (corn) from dissimilar ancestor species.

First cities established in Sumer.

4000

3000

The Americas' first urban complex, in coastal Peru, of at least 30 closely packed cities, each centered around large pyramid-like structures

Great Pyramid at Giza

2650

First clear evidence of Olmec use of zero--an invention, widely described as the most important mathematical discovery ever made, which did not occur in Eurasia until about 600 A.D., in India (zero was not introduced to Europe until the 1200s and not widely used until the 1700s)

800-840 A.D.

Sudden collapse of most central Maya cities in the face of severe drought and lengthy war

Vikings briefly establish first European settlements in North America.

1000

Reconstruction of Cahokia, c. 1250 A.D.*

Abrupt rise of Cahokia, near modern St. Louis, the largest city north of the Rio Grande. Population estimates vary from at least 15,000 to 100,000.

Black Death devastates Europe.

1347-1351

1398

Birth of Tlacaélel, the brilliant Mexican strategist behind the Triple Alliance (also known as the Aztec empire), which within decades controls central Mexico, then the most densely settled place on Earth.

The Encounter: Columbus sails from Europe to the Caribbean.

1492

The Encounter: Columbus sails from Europe to the Caribbean.

Syphilis apparently brought to Europe by Columbus's returning crew.

1493

Ferdinand Magellan departs from Spain on around-the-world voyage.

1519

Sixteenth-century Mexica drawing of the effects of smallpox**

Cortes driven from Tenochtitlán, capital of the Triple Alliance, and then gains victory as smallpox, a European disease never before seen in the Americas, kills at least one of three in the empire.

1525-1533

The smallpox epidemic sweeps into Peru, killing as much as half the population of the Inka empire and opening the door to conquest by Spanish forces led by Pizarro.

1617

Huge areas of New England nearly depopulated by epidemic brought by shipwrecked French sailors.

English Pilgrims arrive at Patuxet, an Indian village emptied by disease, and survive on stored Indian food, renaming the village Plymouth.

1620

*Courtesy Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, Collinsville, Ill., painting by Michael Hampshire. **Courtesy Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe, N.M. (Bernardino de Sahagún, Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España, 1547-77).

Book Description

In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492.

Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them. From the astonishing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, which had running water, immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city, to the Mexican corn that was so carefully created in a specialized breeding process that it has been called man’s first feat of genetic engineering, Indians were not living lightly on the land but were landscaping and manipulating their world in ways that we are only now beginning to understand. Challenging and surprising, this a transformative new look at a rich and fascinating world we only thought we knew.

Customer Reviews:

a great overview.......2007-10-13

This is a great overview of early American cultures, and the various ways in which they shaped their environments. It is not an encyclopedia of Native American cultures, but uses specific examples to support the notion that the original inhabitants of our country have been misunderstood as lacking in initiative and expertise in manipulating the North American landscape... i.e. it debunks the "Eden" myth. Very well written and entertaining as well as informative.

Highly recommended for anyone looking for a more clear view of America before the arrival of Europeans.

Unputdownable.......2007-09-26

I found this book extremely enjoyable. It contains a wealth of knowledge about Native American cultures in N. and S. America; findings that are apparently well-known in academic circles, but which have remained largely unreported and unknown to mainstream audiences. Mr. Mann clearly admires much about the achievements of these pre-Columbus civilizations, and seeks to redress "common" misconceptions that most Westerners have about "primitive, savage" Indian life. I am glad I read this book. I learned a great deal from this book, and was fascinated by the subject matter.

This book is also beautifully written, and makes the subject matter accessible to laypeople. I was expecting it to be readable buy dry, but it was instead a book that just compelled me to keep turning pages. It helps to bring these ancient civilizations to life, talks frankly about the impact of European colonization on these civilizations, and challenges the reader to set aside his/her textbook knowledge and consider seeing Native Americans in an all new light.

Every now and then a book comes out that makes science "sexy." For example, "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond, or "Krakatoa" by Simon Winchester. To me, this is one of those books. It's both revealing and entertaining. "1491" was just a terrific read - thought provoking, compelling, entertaining, well researched. I even read all the appendices, and that's saying something.

I highly recommend this book.

Excellent insight into the latest research.......2007-09-25

Please don't confuse this excellent book with the poorly researched fantasy "1421: The Year China Discovered America." 1491 is an extremely well researched and documented look into the latest archaelogical findings and theories pertaining to life in North and South America prior to Columbus's landing.

Mann does an excellent job explaining the accuracies and flaws of the multitude of theories surrounding this topic. As he simply exposes the debates and doesn't attempt to resolve them himself, he provides an illustrative lesson that one should not become too entrenched with any particular theory on the pre-history of man as each theory is eventually overturned or modified by new findings.

His writing style seems similar to Jared Diamond. Mann, however, makes his points without getting bogged down in the excruciating details which makes this book much more readable than Guns, Germs, and Steel or Collapse (both of which were excellent books as well). With over 100 pages of notes and references he provides the reader with the necessary information for them to conduct their own level of research based upon their desires.

Fascinating but flawed.......2007-09-23

Henry Ford said that all history was bunk, and he had not even read 1491! What a shock to find that the population of the new world in 1491 was greater than that of the old world! That the natives, said to be long-term farmers, had shaped the landscape to suit themselves, that buffalo roamed in small numbers until old world diseases killed off most (90%) of the native tribes and thus allowed the huge herds to form. What a shock to find that many north American tribes considered themselves libertarian compared with the hierarchy bound Europeans. Yet more than enough evidence is given from old writings long ignored, and new archeological finds.

This is all fast and entertaining reading. There are many maps to help explanations, citations by page number, and an index. Mann traveled to several of the archeological sites.

On the downside, Mann talked of the "balanced diet" as though its desirability has been proven, and does not say how maize provided this "balance" (p18). The battle between Hernán Cortés's men and the Mexica was said to have been described as the costliest battle in history with 100,000 casualties (not deaths), (p129). Why no mention of Verdun in WWI with a million deaths and Stalingrad in WWII with a million deaths? Is a mammoth's molar really the size of a bowling ball? (p152) Mann wrote of winter on the Amazon river. I thought equatorial areas had wet and dry seasons, not the 4 seasons observed far from the equator (pp301,305).

But there is another, bigger fly in the ointment. Mann accepts the carbon dioxide from combustion hypothesis of global warming (pp300,308). Solar cycles of changing heat output and the sun's influence on cosmic ray effects on the Earth's clouds determine climate, not CO2 levels. [Jaworowski Z, Solar cycles, not CO2, determine climate, 21st Century Science and Technology, Winter 2003-2004, pp52-65. Accessed as a PDF on 5 Jul 07 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Jaworowski or at: http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/] According to Laurence Hecht, Editor of 21st Century Science & Technology: "Of all the hypotheses [on Earth climate], that of human-produced carbon dioxide as the forcing mechanism for warming is the most deeply and extensively studied, and by far the most discredited. No other hypothesis rests on such flagrant and lying disrepect for data as...on the falsification of the historical CO2 record." [Hecht L, What Really Causes Climate Change? EIR Science, 2 Mar 07, pp6-9. Accessed as a PDF on 5 Jul 07 at: http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/] The other big falsification in this hypothesis, skyrocketing temperatures in the last 50 years to levels not seen in 1300 years, is exemplified by the temperature graph of Michael Mann, which was shown to be a fraud, not just a mistake [McIntyre, S., McKitrick, R. (2005). Hockey sticks, principal components, and spurious significance. Geophysical Research Letters, 32, L03710; doi:10.1029/2004GL021750], [Soon, W., Baliunas, S. (2003). Proxy climatic and environmental changes of the past 1000 years. Climate Research, 23, 89-110].

So for historical controversies Charles C. Mann appeared to do balanced work, with opposing ideas neatly cited. But by failing to look up the "other side" on global warming, he missed effects of giant volcanic eruptions and solar output changes on temperature. The Roman era warming and Medieval Climate Optimum, both with temperatures higher than now and the Little Ice Age (1500-1800) were ignored, thus their effects on migration and population sizes was missed. Now it seems that the crop failures of the Little Ice Age were a main reason for northern Europeans to try to move to a warmer climate.

As always with with non-fiction, some errors make the entire work suspicious. Still a worthwhile book with its limitations in mind.

Great history, great archeology, great read.......2007-09-23

I love fresh looks on old topics. This book delivers on that theme. As a history teacher I find the same mundane, lopsided, and inaccurate truths presented in textbooks about this era time and time again. Mann's book is a counterweight to that miseducation and shed's light on often under appreciated and misrepresented Native American societies.

Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West

Average customer rating:

A blood soaked tour de force
What's Lies Beneath Man's Thin Veneer of Humanity
Wordiness galore!
Obsessive
1 doesn't begin to describe this waste of time

Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West
Cormac McCarthy
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0679728759
Release Date: 1992-05-05

Amazon.com

"The men as they rode turned black in the sun from the blood on their clothes and their faces and then paled slowly in the rising dust until they assumed once more the color of the land through which they passed." If what we call "horror" can be seen as including any literature that has dark, horrific subject matter, then Blood Meridian is, in this reviewer's estimation, the best horror novel ever written. It's a perverse, picaresque Western about bounty hunters for Indian scalps near the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s--a ragged caravan of indiscriminate killers led by an unforgettable human monster called "The Judge." Imagine the imagery of Sam Peckinpah and Heironymus Bosch as written by William Faulkner, and you'll have just an inkling of this novel's power. From the opening scenes about a 14-year-old Tennessee boy who joins the band of hunters to the extraordinary, mythic ending, this is an American classic about extreme violence.

Book Description

An epic novel of the violence and depravity that attended America's westward expansion, Blood Meridianbrilliantly subverts the conventions of the Western novel and the mythology of the "wild west." Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, it traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen-year-old Tennesseean who stumbles into the nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving.

Customer Reviews:

A blood soaked tour de force.......2007-10-13

Everything you've heard about Blood Meridian is true; it really is a magnificently written, blood soaked tour de force. If you're like me and read The Road or No Country For Old Men before this, Blood Meridian is probably both exactly and nothing at all what you're expecting. The punctuation, diction and themes of violence and desolation are very much here, however McCarthy's writing style is quite different. It's a lot more descriptive with long, stream-of-conscious passages - the flip side of The Road and NCFOM's sparse prose. As well, Blood Meridian explores much larger themes than The Road or No Country, everything from the nature of war and violence to metaphysics. As I read Blood Meridian I felt that it dragged a bit at times but since I put it down, I can't get it out of my head. Stay with it if you decide to read it - the final 12 pages or so are mindbogglingly good and well worth the trouble to get there. Recommended for any self-respecting person who considers themselves well read in American literature.

What's Lies Beneath Man's Thin Veneer of Humanity.......2007-09-19

Mr. McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian' examines the nature of man when the fragile constraints of civilization have been broken. To accentuate that all the horrors in 'Blood Meridian' area contained within each of us, Mr. McCarthy sets his novel in the land of our national myth, the 'Wild West.' Not Hollywood's 'Wild West' mind you, but one recognizable as something closer to what reality must have been. That's the truely frightening part.

As everyone notes, the violence starts early in the book and never lets up. Mr. McCarthy forces the reader to look, forces us to not look away. This horrific violence is the vehicle McCarthy uses to move the novel from on his pages to within our own minds. Once we follow the characters across the societally self-imposed border and left 'civilization' and 'humanity' behind, Glanton and 'The Judge' become OUR king and OUR high priest. As 'The Kid's' humanity slowly withers, we recognize the degradable nature of our own humanity. 'The Kid' is the reader. 'The Kid' is the individual. If we are honest with ourselves, McCarthy tells us that when faced with humanity's ever-present interior horrors (represented perfectly by 'The Judge') we are just as helpless.

That is the true horror of 'Blood Meridian.' Not the blood. Not the guts. Not even the dead babies. The horror of 'Blood Meridian' is that at any time we are a one choice, one action away from 'The Judge' and the constraining force of 'civilization' is tenuous at best. And once that thread of humanity has broken...

Mr. McCarthy's language paints a vivid picture but can be difficult to wade through. His word choice can be archaic and obscure, but no word (or sentence) in 'Blood Meridian' ever seems out of place. 'Blood Meridian' makes you work to understand what's going on. The 300 page book seemed much longer to me. Perhaps its because I reread passages. More likely it was because Mr. McCarthy can construct two or three paragraphs that give you the impression that you've seen every detail of a hundred mile journey, all within half of a page.

'Blood Meridian' is not a pretty book or one that fits within today's 'entertainment' consumer's expectations. 'Blood Meridian' is Hieronymus Bosch, not Claude Monet. Mr. McCarthy has created a novel sublime in its ability to frighten and disgust you. Don't let that dissuade you. It's well worth the effort.

Wordiness galore!.......2007-09-12

I think Cormac McCarthy is one of those authors who write for editors and english teachers more than the reader. How pretentious. There is unnecessary wordiness to this novel. It distracts from the story, which is pretty good. His sentence structure is such that I keep thinking that there are much easier ways to say something, kiddo! One reviewer compared him to Hemmingway, but I must disagree. Yes, they both fancy the compound sentence, but Hemmingway wrote in a simpler elegant style. And you can be a good writer and not have to constantly use obscure nouns and reversed adjectives and odd pronoun usage and...oops, caught myself in a compound sentence.

He's heard this criticism before. And maybe it registered because The Road is much better read. Short sentences aren't bad, mi amigos.

Obsessive.......2007-08-26

This is only the second Mccarthy novel I have read,I might try one more before I give up.
There's no doubt that McCarhty is a gifted writer, but I don't share his obsession with violence and inhumanity, maybe that's his point, and in truth, looking at the world today I wonder if we've made any progress at all. Nevertheless I can't abide the literary vision here. I think its a waste of my time to read something that tells me what I already know and pounds in the pointlessness of life, as the authour sees it, till I am sick to death of it, I know there's more to life than this, and I quit the book. I couldn't read anymore after less than a hundred pages. I knew the whole thing would be just more of the same so why bother?
I don't think McCarthys a great writer, he dwells too much on the irredeemably demonic in man. He's an interesting writer, his style, his antique knowledge, his ornate vocabulary, but it takes more than this to make a writer with a response to life that is worthy rather than an indulgence in the depths of horror humanity is capable of. If you want the classic depiction of this, but also with reflection and thoughtfulness about man's plight than all you have to do is read, "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad.

1 doesn't begin to describe this waste of time.......2007-08-20

I listened to about half of the audio book and negative adjectives fail. I tried to tolerate it, I tried to give it much more effort than I felt it deserved or would ever reward me with just a experience that was better than listening to my own internal dialogue. The only thing I could even begin to care about was the animals. There wasn't a character that I was even remotely interested in, I certainly wasn't even the least bit curious as to what happened to them, let alone care about even enough to wish their demise. The evil, amorality of the characters hold no interest, no fascination and is very soon boring instead of evocative of anything. There is nothing inventive, interesting or otherwise at all compelling. You don't care about the Kid or the characters that surround him, you don't care about the people they kill, you don't care that the killings are brutal, and often indiscriminate. You don't care if they kill 10, 100 or 1000 Indians, Mexicans, by-standers or who or whatever ever. The violence is not fascinating, not shocking, not even numbing. In the end it's just repetitive and boring.

Read the phone book, read the want ads, don't bother with this, ever, for any reason.

Average customer rating:

Interesting reading
Historical Essay, NOT an easy read!
Book in good condition and delivered quickly
Political Conversational tool
Absolutely Fantastic! Unfortunately

Lies My Teacher Told Me
LOEWEN
Manufacturer: Touchstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0684818868

Book Description

Winner of the 1996 American Book Award and the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship

Americans have lost touch with their history, and in this thought-provoking book, Professor James Loewen shows why. After surveying twelve leading high school American history texts, he has concluded that not one does a decent job of making history interesting or memorable. Marred by an embarrassing combination of blind patriotism, mindless optimism, sheer misinformation, and outright lies, these books omit almost all the ambiguity, passion, conflict, and drama from our past. In ten powerful chapters, Loewen reveals that:

The United States dropped three times as many tons of explosives in Vietman as it dropped in all theaters of World War II, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Ponce de Leon went to Florida mainly to capture Native Americans as slaves for Hispaniola, not to find the mythical fountain of youth
Woodrow Wilson, known as a progressive leader, was in fact a white supremacist who personally vetoed a clause on racial equality in the Covenant of the League of Nations
The first colony to legalize slavery was not Virginia but Massachusetts

From the truth about Columbus's historic voyages to an honest evaluation of our national leaders, Loewen revives our history, restoring to it the vitality and relevance it truly possesses.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting reading.......2007-10-17

I am not sure that everything in this book is true, but it is interesting reading. I think on some items the teacher was telling the truth and the author had an opposing view.

Historical Essay, NOT an easy read!.......2007-10-14

I absolutely loved this book and read it in 2 days. But, I am also a history major, love history, and can read dry lectures. As a fair warning to anyone who is looking to buy this book: don't expect to find fun little quirks and trivia in this book, and don't expect it to be an easy read! It is a college professor's serious and well-researched book, geared toward other historians and scholars. IT IS DRY, IT HAS LOTS OF DATA, IT HAS LOTS OF FOOTNOTES.

If you ARE a history buff, you will probably already know all of the "lies" in the book, but it is still an excellent read. You will be outraged at the lack of ethics of publishers and historians paid to pretend to write textbooks. If you are a history teacher, you DEFINITELY need to read this book and question what your textbooks are (or are not) teaching.

Lastly, if you are an American who still believes the US is THE GREATEST NATION in the world, or THE US IS THE WORLD PROTECTOR, or THE US IS ALWAYS RIGHT, you need to pick up this book right away and re-educate yourself with the facts your old high school social studies book left out.

Book in good condition and delivered quickly.......2007-09-28

I enjoyed this book - all history people should read it! thank you for the quick delivery

Political Conversational tool.......2007-07-31

Although at times unsettling, the purpose of this book is to encourage the questioning of the indoctrinated a one-sided viewpoint of American History.

If you have a cultural diverse group of friends this book may help you understand their indifferences with American History.

A true American accepts both positive and negative parts of history. We don't have to make facts disappear. Acceptance doesn't mean liking, enjoying or condoning. In accepting the truth we can evolve as a nation, but by denying facts we will forever be stuck in cultural wars.

Not a page-turner, not to crazy with the writing style, but interesting.

Absolutely Fantastic! Unfortunately.......2007-07-25

Great book on how the history classes in elementary and high schools have been watered down to the point where they are meaningless. You've always heard people say "those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it". It wasn't until I got to college that I was truely able to see why that is so, when our history classes went beyond "dates and facts". In this book, he makes his points about the dumbing down of history by discussing people, events and facts that have been poorly covered, or ingnored. Sometimes what is taught is just plain wrong, and KNOWN to be wrong by the people writing the books!! This is generally done to avoid controversy and hide distasteful events, or avoid tough questions that have no easy answer. History that is inaccurate, without explaining the context of the times and it's effects today is useless for anything OTHER than propoganda. History is abused (and made into propoganda) by liberal and conservative alike. They ignore facts or context to paint either an overly harsh, or overly rosey picture of our past. This book gives some insight on the damage that causes, especially to minorities whose history is glossed over or just plain inaccurate. This leads to a sense of shame that they somehow haven't contributed to the greatness this country has acheived. A note to the people claiming this is revisonist history. The history you studied in school IS revisionist history! Most people who claim this is revisionist do not support their claims with facts, just claims that it's revisionist because the facts he presents make them uncomfortable. Seek the truth, and let it make you free.

Collected Wisdom: American Indian Education

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A must-read!
A journey in understanding

Collected Wisdom: American Indian Education
Linda Miller Cleary , and Thomas D. Peacock
Manufacturer: Allyn & Bacon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0205267572

Book Description

How do cultural differences and real-world issues affect the education of students, in this case, American Indian students? What approaches have real teachers found that work well with American Indian students? This books answers these and more thoughtful questions about teaching in today's diverse school communities. KEY TOPICS: This book captures the collected wisdom of nearly 60 teachers of American Indian students, their frustrations, joys, and challenges. It provides in a very real way, a portrait of the issues that challenge these students, as well as the successes some teachers have in working with American Indian students. It provides new and fresh perspectives on learning styles and literacy issues. It is also the first book to confront issues of historic oppression and its impact on contemporary Indian education. New and practicing teachers seeking to enhance their awareness and teaching methods to meet the needs of today's diverse classrooms.

Customer Reviews:

A must-read!.......2000-05-24

Possibly the most useful book available for anyone working in or considering working in elementary and secondary American Indian education. As a tribal school employee, I felt the authors may have used our school as a case study! Thought provoking and inspirational - highly recommended.

A journey in understanding.......1998-12-12

These gentle, generous-spirited writers have contributed a great deal to the field. Their book is full of stories, true tales of work in classrooms. Each leads you further into the depths of insight needed to be of use as an educator of Native American students.

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Indian
Enchanting and riveting, this story will stay with you
Island Of The Blue Dolphins!
May be too adult for 10 or 11 yr olds
good

Island of the Blue Dolphins
Scott O'Dell
Manufacturer: Yearling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0440439884
Release Date: 1987-02-01

Amazon.com

Scott O'Dell won the Newbery Medal for Island of the Blue Dolphins in 1961, and in 1976 the Children's Literature Association named this riveting story one of the 10 best American children's books of the past 200 years. O'Dell was inspired by the real-life story of a 12-year-old American Indian girl, Karana. The author based his book on the life of this remarkable young woman who, during the evacuation of Ghalas-at (an island off the coast of California), jumped ship to stay with her young brother who had been abandoned on the island. He died shortly thereafter, and Karana fended for herself on the island for 18 years.

O'Dell tells the miraculous story of how Karana forages on land and in the ocean, clothes herself (in a green-cormorant skirt and an otter cape on special occasions), and secures shelter. Perhaps even more startlingly, she finds strength and serenity living alone on the island. This beautiful edition of Island of the Blue Dolphins is enriched with 12 full-page watercolor paintings by Ted Lewin, illustrator of more than 100 children's books, including Ali, Child of the Desert. A gripping story of battling wild dogs and sea elephants, this simply told, suspenseful tale of survival is also an uplifting adventure of the spirit. (Ages 9 to 12)

Book Description

In the Pacific, there is an island that looks like a big fish sunning itself in the sea. Around it blue dolphins swim, otters play, and sea birds abound. Karana is the Indian girl who lived alone for years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Hers is not only an unusual adventure of survival, but also a tale of natural beauty and personal discovery.

Customer Reviews:

Indian.......2007-10-01

White people found her people and took them off island with lie of freedom. She escaped and remain on island with brother. Wolves eat brother. She walk alone and with a special wolf who is kind to her. one day she enter a water cave, found out the truth about her people fate. her people died and she survived. one day white people return to the island once again, she finally allow herself to join them. she became famous and she is buried in california. her clothing is in museum in Italy. wonderful story of her courage life.

Enchanting and riveting, this story will stay with you.......2007-08-27

I have to smile when reading these other reviews that say this book was one of their favorites as a child. It also was mine. I've read so many books, that most times the memory of the details within them grow dim, but not with "Island of the Blue Dolphins". I can still picture the breathtaking beauty of the island where Karana spent her growing years. I still remember her joys and trials of living alone for so long, after everyone had left. Her ingenuity and strength still amazes me. I can't wait until my children are old enough so I can enjoy this Newberry book with them. It's definitely one in a million.

Island Of The Blue Dolphins!.......2007-08-19

When I was on vacation at Martha's Vinyard I went to the book store and bought Island Of The Blue Dolphins for myself and I loved it!! I love it so much because of it's beautiful discriptions and details that I can picture in my mind. This book is beautifully written and has wonderful detail of natural survival of hunting, and making friends (Rontu and Rontu-Aru and the English girl Tutok, the fox and Won-a-nee the otter). How many wonderful and beautiful adventures of exciting survival can one indian girl have? I am 10 years old and recommend this book to whoever loves reading and is a fan of detail and beauty!!!!!!!!

May be too adult for 10 or 11 yr olds.......2007-08-15

My 11 yr old enjoyed this book but says it was too sad for her taste. Kids!

good.......2007-08-13

THIS BOOK WAS FOR MY GRANDDAUGHTER. She liked it very much. I am looking for some other books for 7th graders do you have any suggestions?

The Encyclopedia of North American Indians

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The Encyclopedia of North American Indians

Manufacturer: Marshall Cavendish Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0761402276

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Alexie Does It
Despite some turbulence, it is well worth the flight.
A typical boy in an untypical world...
Finally a Book that Goes Against the Grain
"We're all the same people. And we are all falling."

Flight: A Novel
Sherman Alexie
Manufacturer: Grove Press, Black Cat
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0802170374

Book Description

The best-selling author of multiple award-winning books returns with his first novel in ten years, a powerful, fast and timely story of a troubled foster teenager — a boy who is not a “legal” Indian because he was never claimed by his father — who learns the true meaning of terror. About to commit a devastating act, the young man finds himself shot back through time on a shocking sojourn through moments of violence in American history. He resurfaces in the form of an FBI agent during the civil rights era, inhabits the body of an Indian child during the battle at Little Big Horn, and then rides with an Indian tracker in the 19th Century before materializing as an airline pilot jetting through the skies today. When finally, blessedly, our young warrior comes to rest again in his own contemporary body, he is mightily transformed by all he’s seen. This is Sherman Alexie at his most brilliant — making us laugh while breaking our hearts. Simultaneously wrenching and deeply humorous, wholly contemporary yet steeped in American history, Flight is irrepressible, fearless, and again, groundbreaking Alexie.

Customer Reviews:

Alexie Does It.......2007-10-10

I've been reading Alexie's work lately and reading FLIGHT has lead me to be even more enthusiastic about his writing. His words suck you into the emotion of the main character, Zits, and takes you with him on his journey to find his identity as a foster, 21st century Indian boy. As a pre-service English teacher, I thought of how this book would be responded to in a high school classroom. Despite some of the provocative language (which really is a minute factor) used in certain situations, this is a great text to expose to high school students with its ability to raise topics for discussion and controversial issues that expand further than just adolescent identity.
A big aspect of FLIGHT is the idea of the 21st century Indian which has been a talked about issue recently. There are so may subjects and controversies packed into Alexie's book that it's possible to find a deeper meaning within each one of his words. I highly recommend this text to any high school student or adult.

Despite some turbulence, it is well worth the flight........2007-10-10

Sherman Alexie's Flight reminds us all that we seek love and need love. The novel's protagonist, "Zits" is a wayward teenager who is victimized by the foster-care system and as a result wrestles with shame, alienation and self. Zits draws the reader in as he narrates this tale with a matter-of-fact tone and a sardonic sense of humor that only a teenager of his circumstance could own. After another one of Zit's attempts at running away, the altruistic Officer Dave catches him; Officer Dave is Zits only true friend. In describing Dave, Zits claims, "the wounded always recognize the wounded. We can smell each other." These open wounds are the catalysts that turn a routine visit to kid jail into something more sinister; it is on this visit, that the susceptible Zits comes under the spell of another Juvenile Delinquent named "Justice" and decides to become his brother in arms. While faced with a critical decision, initiated by the charismatic Justice, Zits's conscience soars-literally. We find our selves taken along for the ride as Zits snatches bodies and thrusts us into a series of alternate consciousness. We become an FBI agent, an Indian boy, an Indian tracker, an adulterous man caught with his paramour and even Zits's own father. Aside from gripping action, all this body snatching serves a purpose; these characters act as vehicles for Zits to come to terms with his dubious and heart breaking past. If you want to know whether or not Zits follows Justice's flawed and mad reasoning to his own death, read this novel! Although getting to the destination is riddled with turbulence, it is well worth the flight.

A typical boy in an untypical world..........2007-10-10

This is how Alexie brings us in! He introduces us to a character that we are already familiar with no matter how old we are - the typical troubled, "bad boy" teen. Through the first few chapters, we begin with an, "Ah, I know this boy" attitude. Then, his "typical" bad boy life changes. He goes places none of us have before. But, we still want to follow him because we "know" him, or at least someone like him. On the surface, the entire novel seems like a young teenage boy and his unexpected journeys through time. However, we can look so much deeper than that. It seems, through his time travel, Zits is making commentary on real world and societal issues and is not afraid to say it. In the beggining, he uses the teenage language and laid back "I don't care" attitude to introduce concepts of murder, culture, citizenship, identity, friendship, etc. We may almost pass him off as a troubled teen with an attitude problem. However, his extreme detail and analysis of his time travel proves to us that in every time and place in the world there are major contradictions between what we are told/taught and what actually happens and how people actually feel.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I do feel that adolescents might have trouble with it. As a college student reading it for school, I had trouble stopping to jot down notes or putting the book down. In the begining, when I would leave the book, I felt like I had no idea what was going on. I could make new predictions every other chapter as to if this person really was Zits, if it was a dream, time travels, a nightmare, etc. and sometimes my predictions were way off. Just when I thought I knew what was happening I realized I didn't. Although predicting and repredicting was fun for me, I think it may cause the "anti-reading" adolescent student trouble. I enjoy being confused and I enjoy every twist and turn, but I'm not sure a majority of adolescents would. However, because of the literary beauty, terrific writing, great story and underlying commentary, I believe trying to get adolescents to read this novel is definitely worth a shot!

Finally a Book that Goes Against the Grain.......2007-10-10

What can't there be said about this book? If you want a book that sugar-coats language and hides hard-hitting issues, do not pick up "Flight" by, Sherman Alexie. However, if you enjoy reading real teen issues and are not resistant to language, (even profanities) then this book is definitely for you.

Alexie does a fantastic job in creating a teen who faces many problems that many teenagers today can relate to while also using language that many teens are accustomed to. The character "Zits" is the poster child for everything that can go wrong for a teenager in today's world while still maintaining an amazing sense of humor. His telling of the story and constant interruption of thoughts has readers literally "laughing out loud."

Open-minded adults and kids everywhere will most definitely enjoy this book!

"We're all the same people. And we are all falling." .......2007-10-10

"Call me Zits. Everybody calls me Zits...My real name isn't important." From the first few lines of Sherman Alexie's Flight, the reader is aware that this young adolescent struggles from a lack of self-worth. This adolescent boy of mixed blood (American and Indian)presents a bit of his past to the reader within the first chapter of the novel. Having lived with 20 foster families by age 15, he forces the reader to feel pity for him, regardless of his negative behavior. I found myself granting clemency for his actions due to his past experiences.
This boy is lonely, disappointed,scared, angry, unsure and longs to be loved. It is not until he takes "flight" on this journey that his life changes.
Zits represents and speaks to every adolescent who struggles with stereotypes, self identity, cultural identity, family and love for self. Where the novel is bit graphic and the language a bit vulgar, it is still a novel I would teach in a secondary classroom. The way Catcher in the Rye related to students years ago, Flight relates to students of today.
Flight embodies so many themes, that every English teacher desires to touch upon. A must read for everyone!

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History done right
The Jamestown Project
A Good "Atlantic" Reworking of the Jamestown Story

The Jamestown Project
Karen Ordahl Kupperman
Manufacturer: Belknap Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0674024745

Book Description

Listen to a short interview with Karen Ordahl Kupperman
Host: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & Crane

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.

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