Colonial Life

History is recorded in many ways. According to author James Deetz, the past can be seen most fully by studying the small things so often forgotten. In his completely revised and expanded edition of In Small Things Forgotten, Deetz has added new sections that more fully acknowledge the presence of women and African Americans in Colonial America.

Independence Lost reveals that individual motives counted as much as the ideals of liberty and freedom the Founders espoused: Independence had a personal as well as national meaning, and the choices made by people living outside the colonies were of critical importance to the war's outcome.

Leading into the 400th anniversary of the voyage of the Mayflower, Martyn Whittock examines the lives of the "saints" (members of the Separatist Puritan congregations) and "strangers" (economic migrants) on the original ship. Collectively, these people would become known to history as "the Pilgrims". The story of the Pilgrims has taken on a life of its own as one of our founding national myths - their escape from religious persecution, the dangerous transatlantic journey, that brutal first winter.

The Widow Washington is the first life of Mary Ball Washington, George Washington's mother, based on archival sources. Her son's biographers have, for the most part, painted her as self-centered and crude, a trial and an obstacle to her oldest child. But the records tell a very different story. The Widow Washington is a necessary and deeply insightful corrective, telling the story of Mary's long, arduous life on its own terms, and not treating her as her son's satellite.

In the gold rush era of Virginia City, Montana, crime was afoot and justice shaky. Lawlessness ran amok in the form of gamblers, saloonkeepers, miners, dance hall girls, and road agents - outlaws who ambushed travelers on the road for a chance to steal precious gold. Of all the road agents, Henry Plummer was their king and elected sheriff. Plummer’s notorious road-agent band terrorized the highways until a group of ordinary citizens resolved to take the responsibility of social governance into their hands.

In John Adams: A Life, Ferling offers a compelling portrait of one of the giants of the Revolutionary era. Drawing on extensive research, Ferling depicts a reluctant revolutionary, a leader who was deeply troubled by the warfare that he helped to make, and a fiercely independent statesman. Bringing to life an exciting time, an age in which Adams played an important political and intellectual role. this book is a singular biography of the man who succeeded George Washington in the presidency and shepherded the fragile new nation through the most dangerous of times.

Harriet Jacobs’ autobiography, written under the pseudonym Linda Brent, details her experiences as a slave in North Carolina, her escape to freedom in the north, and her ensuing struggles to free her children. The narrative was partly serialized in the New York Tribune, but was discontinued because Jacobs’ depictions of the sexual abuse of female slaves were considered too shocking. It was published in book form in 1861.

Over the last generation, historians have broadened our understanding of colonial America by adopting both a trans-Atlantic and a trans-continental perspective, examining the interplay of Europe, Africa, and the Americas through the flow of goods, people, plants, animals, capital, and ideas. In this Very Short Introduction, Alan Taylor presents an engaging overview of the best of this new scholarship.

In Washington's Heir, Gerard N. Magliocca gives us the first published biography of Bushrod Washington, one of the most underrated Founding Fathers. Born in 1762, Justice Washington fought in the Revolutionary War, served in Virginia's ratifying convention for the Constitution, and was Chief Justice John Marshall's partner in establishing the authority of the Supreme Court.

This enthralling work of scholarship strips away abstractions to reveal the hidden - and not always stoic - face of the "goodwives" of colonial America. In this book, we encounter the awesome burdens - and the considerable power - of a New England housewife's domestic life and witness her occasional forays into the world of men. We see her borrowing from her neighbors, loving her husband, raising - and, all too often, mourning - her children, and even attaining fame as a heroine of frontier conflicts or notoriety as a murderess.

A sweeping adventure, In Liberty’s Wake follows Arabella, her family, and their slaves as they face momentous change and upheaval on the eve of the American Revolution. Living on a Virginia plantation overlooking the James River, Arabella’s life is one of privilege and order; yet, like the river she views from her bedchamber window the calm belies a churning undercurrent capable of sweeping away anything in its path. It’s 1763, Virginia is the wealthiest colony in British America, and as the French and Indian War draws to a close, colonists look forward to peace and prosperity. Loyal ...

You just tried out for the school play. Who wants the lead part more than anyone? YOU! Imagine riding in horse-drawn carriages. Dining with the finest silverware. Wearing fancy clothes and powdered wigs. But be careful what you wish for. That might not be the way it was for a settler in Colonial America.…

In the shadows of Salem Village in 1692, one young girl must navigate the complexities of a divided society. Often cold and hungry, eight-year-old Verity Manton, an orphaned ragpicker, clings to the scraps of love and kindness in her harsh world. Things get tangled as the village Puritans' strange behavior grows more alarming. Verity is caught between the safety of her life and the promise of a better future with a Quaker family who reaches out to her. Yet, she has been warned her whole life that Quakers are evil. Will Verity have the courage to trust her heart and choose a path that defies...

Did you know that the first English settlement in the New World was a disaster? Perhaps you have heard the story of Roanoke before. Or maybe even the creation of Jamestown. But have you heard about the Spanish colonies in North America? Or the French and Dutch settlements? Colonial America was diverse, with European settlers from various nations coming to the New World and meeting the Native Americans who already inhabited the land. What were their interactions like? Was there any semblance of peace between all of the groups who called this land their home?

The Life and Times of Robert Flint the Pioneer is the story of one heroic man's life. Robert's descendent, David Burton Flint, reveals Robert's rise from a meager, immigrant beginnings to a pioneer and hero on the wild and warring early American frontier. A skilled and courageous warrior. Robert fought bravely in the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionat War. He saw the glory and the grusomeness of battle and knew the value of family and security. This account of Robert's legendary existence is a saga of the essence of the human experience and the fire of patriotism. It is the...

One of the most important books in American History! Who were the bold and courageous men that risked their lives for the glory of American independence? Which one was killed in an old fashioned dual? In this book, filled with historical gems, you will discover: Why and how the Declaration of Independence was written Biographies of fifty-six signers including Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Samuel Adams Why did they risk their lives, families, and possessions for the sake of independence Who was the signer nicknamed the 'Father of American Medicine' Why was there an impeachment ...

The author is contacted by a supposed descendant of Hernán Cortés and La Malinche to review and transcribe a family document of great historical importance. Thus begins this captivating historical novel based on the memoirs of Martín Cortés, the Mestizo. Set in the magnificent Spanish Golden Age, Martín finds himself immersed in the court of King Carlos I and his heir, the future King Felipe II, participating in pivotal events that shaped both the newly founded Viceroyalty of New Spain and the European continent. Immerse yourself in this fascinating biographical story that unravels the...

In Springfield, Massachusetts in 1651, peculiar things begin to happen. Precious food spoils, livestock ails, property vanishes, and people suffer convulsions as if possessed by demons. A woman is seen wading through the swamp like a lost soul. Disturbing dreams and visions proliferate. Children sicken and die. As tensions rise, rumours spread of witches and heretics and the community becomes tangled in a web of distrust, resentment and denunciation.

In January 1907, Enrico Bertarelli and his wife set out on an extended holiday to India to tour the country. He traveled widely and kept a detailed journal, not only of the sights and attractions the country offered, but of its history and also his thoughts and feelings about colonial British rule, the condition and interactions of the various groups of natives and the general social mores in the country at the time. This book, translated into English for the first time, is a fascinating window into India at the turn of the 20th century, narrated by an acute European observer who, on the ...

When it comes to the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton are generally considered the great minds of early America. George Washington, instead, is toasted with accolades regarding his solid common sense and strength in battle. Indeed, John Adams once snobbishly dismissed him as "too illiterate, unlearned, unread for his station and reputation." Yet Adams, as well as the majority of the men who knew Washington in his life, were unaware of his singular devotion to self-improvement.