Rating: 
Summary: Not a traditional history of colonial North America...
Review: ...something much broader, deeper, richer, and ultimately much more satisfying. Histories of colonial North America usually have as their starting points the arrival of the British and end with the American Revolution. Not so here. Taylor's scope is broad enough to include the history of early Native Americans, not just at the time of discovery, but hundreds of years earlier. Even more interestingly this view is not limited to the Native Americans in what would eventually become the US, but looks at those living throughout North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. The richness of this history comes by way of the various cultures that are included. From the perspective of the East coast of the continent, the story of colonialism involves the British and the Native Americans. When the view extends North to Canada then we include the French. What Taylor does is show the perspective from all angles, and this means that Spanish and Dutch influences were also important, the former especially so in the West. Chapters on the history of different regions rather than single countries or islands highlights the fact that there were diverse influences which oftentimes overlapped and interacted. There are chapters on the Carolinas, the West Indies, New England, the Pacific Coast and Chesapeake region. Certainly not left out of this analysis is the huge role Africa and its sons and daughters played in the settlement of our continent. This is the first Volume in the Penguin History of the United States. It seems ironic then that the books main argument is that the colonization, settlement and growth of the AMERICAN COLONIES was a process in which the eventual emergence of the US was only a very dim vision on the far horizon. The book is well written, thoroughly researched and deeply insightful. Although it is colonial history, its tale as told here has as much resonance and meaning for us today as it must have had in living it.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST read for Ethnocentrics & those interested in America
Review: Alan Taylor has painted for the reader, in his book American Colonies, a fantastic picture of the early years of the entire North American continent. His book provides the reader with a structure not always seen in history books; the chapters focus on a geographic region within a specific time frame. For those people that have learned that American history started only with the original 13 British colonies (as is so frequently taught in American schools today), this book will dispel that myth by introducing the reader to such areas as Spanish New Mexico and Florida, early Hawaii, and Russian Alaska. The author has provided us with a spectacular view of these different aspects of the North American colonial history, and should be read by anyone interested in the formation of America as it exists today or any aspect of its early creation. Readers should be aware that since Taylor is looking at such an expansive area and time frames, the book is not a comprehensive study of early America, but is more like a detailed introduction, with many avenues worthy of further exploration in more detailed studies.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding New Perspective on the American Colonies!
Review: Alan Taylor has written a magnificent, fresh overview of the history of American colonies--the plural is intentional because he treats not just the thirteen colonies, but the Spanish, French, Russian, and other English colonies like Nova Scotia and Barbados. The author achieves a balance from the anti-colonial bashing of some current historical writing--while giving an accurate picture of the terrible effects of colonization on native peoples and African slaves, he gives the colonists their due as tamers of demanding environments and founders of a New World. For anyone looking for a broader picture of the colonization process, this is the book to read. The first in a series of Penguin histories of the U.S., this excellent book bodes well for the volumes to come!
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive, Broad and Excellent
Review: Alan Taylor has written a very thorough history of the peopling of the American continent that clearly takes its inspiration from Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel." The human and demographic needs which controlled the pace and flow of early migration to North America as well as preordained the outcome of the clash between European and Indian cultures is the backbone of this impressive book. Although political decisions and the ambitions of kings as well as intrepid adventurers started the age of exploration, it was clearly economics which governed the establishment and success of colonies and determined whether or not landings and forts could attract sufficient settlers to become colonies as opposed to remaining lonely outposts garrisoned by impressed soldiers and agents of mercantilists. (This is not to belittle the role of imperial competition and advantage in colonial expansion, but those goals were either in pursuit of wealth or in response to the Spanish, who got started first and reaped an empire-enhancing wealth transfer early on -- one of such dimensions that the competitors had to respond). Different policies played a role in the success or failure of colonial adventures. The Spanish combined Catholic mission with regard to conversion of Indians with sheer terror to support their efforts. The French, possessed of cold lands productive in animal furs but not in the kind of agriculture that could support large numbers of French transplants, had to rely on alliance and diplomacy with local natives to maintain their presence. Both of these kingdoms governed their colonies directly from the crown, which allowed for uniformity of control as well as mistakes. The English approached colonization in a piecework model which led to differing methods of implantation and maintenance of their settlements. Productive early colonies like the Leeward Islands were given over to large land barons (after the local populations were wiped out by European germs), slavery and brutal control to keep imported Africans in check processing sugar cane). The New England colonies -- given over to Puritans as a convenient way to exile them from England proper, were religious refuges which at times had a somewhat more tolerant view of life with the native population than the Spanish but much less than the French (although they succeeded in clearing the area of Indians through disease and war just the same). The Southern colonies featured crown dominions (in the case of Virginia) that relied on control and force to keep slave labor and Indians at bay. The pressure for more land to plant profitable tobacco led to a brutalization of Indians who stood in the way of plantation formation. Pennsylvania, in the middle colonial region, was for a time a unique experiment of the private citizen William Penn that took perhaps the most enlightened (this is relative to the time of course) view of life with a native population. Never much under crown auspices for most of its history, the Penn experiment became a beacon for the outcasts (political, religious, economic) of the Old World who could gumption up enough nerve to transplant across the Atlantic. Nowhere in the English system did the local Indian population enjoy a better coexistence than in Pennsylvania (though that too, proved illusory in the long run as population pressures and disease led to the same land grabbing mentality as in other colonies). What Taylor does extremely well is focus on the forces that controlled political decisions regarding colonization and development in North America. Germs played an incredible role, killing off 90% of Native Americans before large-scale contact with Europeans in most places. Technology and organization next doomed those few Indians left in this war for the continent. They could simply not compete with guns, horses and allegiance to crown or colony when they themselves were usually tiny members of small bands numbering in the hundreds or low thousands (with the exceptions of the Inca and Aztecs) who often warred with the next band as much as the local colonists. It is interesting that Taylor, while very sympathetic and true to what is basically a story of annihilation of native cultures (for the vast part by disease, the great unplanned and unimagined ally of the Europeans), does not paint the Indians as a harmonious peaceful people inhabiting an Eden like continent prior to its despoiling by Europeans. While Indians lived fairly harmoniously with their surroundings (though not with each other as Taylor points out often, slavery, warfare, kidnapping and competition being normal aspects of inter-Indian affairs), they nonetheless shaped the local environment and remade the land to suit their needs. In agricultural areas, burning was practiced and evidence shows plant species were extinguished and changed to make way for or as a result of Indian farming. Rather than living as one with nature, the Indians shaped nature for their purposes, although their lack of technology and political organization made their imprint upon the land much less severe than that of the men of Europe. Taylor focuses much of the book on the Spanish, English and French experiences - proper since they were the major players. This book is comprehensive though, and tells the story of Dutch, Sweedish and Russian contact with North America. Taylor also describes the Native peopling of North America, spending time describing their interaction with each other, their management of life on the continent prior to European discovery as well as attempts to survive with the new realities wrought by Europe. This is a very comprehensive and thorough book that takes a look at the peopling of the North American continent through the broad lens of history. This appropriate approach spends a lot of time on the geographic, demographic, economic and biological factors that informed, shaped and in many cases pre-ordained the outcomes when native cultures clashed with European and as European countries jockeyed for position in the New World. This is a very worthwhile reading and would serve as an excellent jumping off point for those whose interest would lead them to more conventional political histories of the colonial period.
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive, Broad and Excellent
Review: Alan Taylor has written a very thorough history of the peopling of the American continent that clearly takes its inspiration from Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel." The human and demographic needs which controlled the pace and flow of early migration to North America as well as preordained the outcome of the clash between European and Indian cultures is the backbone of this impressive book. Although political decisions and the ambitions of kings as well as intrepid adventurers started the age of exploration, it was clearly economics which governed the establishment and success of colonies and determined whether or not landings and forts could attract sufficient settlers to become colonies as opposed to remaining lonely outposts garrisoned by impressed soldiers and agents of mercantilists. (This is not to belittle the role of imperial competition and advantage in colonial expansion, but those goals were either in pursuit of wealth or in response to the Spanish, who got started first and reaped an empire-enhancing wealth transfer early on -- one of such dimensions that the competitors had to respond). Different policies played a role in the success or failure of colonial adventures. The Spanish combined Catholic mission with regard to conversion of Indians with sheer terror to support their efforts. The French, possessed of cold lands productive in animal furs but not in the kind of agriculture that could support large numbers of French transplants, had to rely on alliance and diplomacy with local natives to maintain their presence. Both of these kingdoms governed their colonies directly from the crown, which allowed for uniformity of control as well as mistakes. The English approached colonization in a piecework model which led to differing methods of implantation and maintenance of their settlements. Productive early colonies like the Leeward Islands were given over to large land barons (after the local populations were wiped out by European germs), slavery and brutal control to keep imported Africans in check processing sugar cane). The New England colonies -- given over to Puritans as a convenient way to exile them from England proper, were religious refuges which at times had a somewhat more tolerant view of life with the native population than the Spanish but much less than the French (although they succeeded in clearing the area of Indians through disease and war just the same). The Southern colonies featured crown dominions (in the case of Virginia) that relied on control and force to keep slave labor and Indians at bay. The pressure for more land to plant profitable tobacco led to a brutalization of Indians who stood in the way of plantation formation. Pennsylvania, in the middle colonial region, was for a time a unique experiment of the private citizen William Penn that took perhaps the most enlightened (this is relative to the time of course) view of life with a native population. Never much under crown auspices for most of its history, the Penn experiment became a beacon for the outcasts (political, religious, economic) of the Old World who could gumption up enough nerve to transplant across the Atlantic. Nowhere in the English system did the local Indian population enjoy a better coexistence than in Pennsylvania (though that too, proved illusory in the long run as population pressures and disease led to the same land grabbing mentality as in other colonies). What Taylor does extremely well is focus on the forces that controlled political decisions regarding colonization and development in North America. Germs played an incredible role, killing off 90% of Native Americans before large-scale contact with Europeans in most places. Technology and organization next doomed those few Indians left in this war for the continent. They could simply not compete with guns, horses and allegiance to crown or colony when they themselves were usually tiny members of small bands numbering in the hundreds or low thousands (with the exceptions of the Inca and Aztecs) who often warred with the next band as much as the local colonists. It is interesting that Taylor, while very sympathetic and true to what is basically a story of annihilation of native cultures (for the vast part by disease, the great unplanned and unimagined ally of the Europeans), does not paint the Indians as a harmonious peaceful people inhabiting an Eden like continent prior to its despoiling by Europeans. While Indians lived fairly harmoniously with their surroundings (though not with each other as Taylor points out often, slavery, warfare, kidnapping and competition being normal aspects of inter-Indian affairs), they nonetheless shaped the local environment and remade the land to suit their needs. In agricultural areas, burning was practiced and evidence shows plant species were extinguished and changed to make way for or as a result of Indian farming. Rather than living as one with nature, the Indians shaped nature for their purposes, although their lack of technology and political organization made their imprint upon the land much less severe than that of the men of Europe. Taylor focuses much of the book on the Spanish, English and French experiences - proper since they were the major players. This book is comprehensive though, and tells the story of Dutch, Sweedish and Russian contact with North America. Taylor also describes the Native peopling of North America, spending time describing their interaction with each other, their management of life on the continent prior to European discovery as well as attempts to survive with the new realities wrought by Europe. This is a very comprehensive and thorough book that takes a look at the peopling of the North American continent through the broad lens of history. This appropriate approach spends a lot of time on the geographic, demographic, economic and biological factors that informed, shaped and in many cases pre-ordained the outcomes when native cultures clashed with European and as European countries jockeyed for position in the New World. This is a very worthwhile reading and would serve as an excellent jumping off point for those whose interest would lead them to more conventional political histories of the colonial period.
Rating:
Summary: Superb account of the colonisation of the Americas
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A major study
Review: As an educator, I am often frustrated in my pursuit for new GOOD history books that I know will provide the information my students will need and is presented in a way that I know my students will be able to understand. Too many books either talk down to students or are so cerebral and sophisticated that they leave them dumbfounded or bored or both. Alan Taylor's look at pre-Revolutionary War North American continent is brilliant, engaging, and written with a flair that interested readers and students will embrace.
America's history began well-before the first Europeans arrived, and Professor Taylor goes to great lengths to reinforce that simple concept which most histories tend to ignore. Tracing back to the earliest settlers, Taylor evokes an era that is strangely primitive--strange in the sense that we are conditioned to conceive America as being born modern, as though the pavements, skyscrapers and railroads were already here when the Europeans arrived.
Although a long book, it reads very quickly, and the maps and illustrations throughout are easy to read and, more urgently, relevant. I look forward to future installments in the Pengiun History of the United States series.
Rocco Dormarunno
College of New Rochelle
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking scope, solid scholarship
Review: Books like this are regrettably--but understandably--rare. Alan Taylor takes on the entire sweep of the human presence in North America up to the turn of the nineteenth century: from the earliest migrations across Beringia, to the European impact on Hawaii. It is astonishing how much he is able to include in a single, compact volume. While somewhat slanted toward an Anglo-centric account after the sixteenth century (for instance, the chapter on the West Indies from 1600-1700 is almost entirely about the British presence--Hispaniola and Cuba are completely ignored), it is only a moderate bias, admirably offset by his full and comparative accounts of the French in Canada and Louisiana, the Spanish in the southwest and California, and Russians in the northwest and Alaska. The tone of the writing, however, is exquisitely balanced and clean. In fact, the clear and efficient style is a pleasure to read, and chapter after chapter flows smoothly through the complexities and nuances of the latest and finest scholarship on the colonial era. American historians have truly brought their craft to a golden age of deep research, critical analysis and sound--yet astonishing--interpretation: Taylor's bibliography is a treasure chest of books I can't wait to read. He expertly weaves the most recent foci of American historiography--Atlantic studies, epidemiology, environmental history, pre-Columbian (and post-Columbian) archaeology, analyses of trade, demographics, gender roles, race, etc.--into the more familiar stories of explorers, empires, wars and migration. The whole story (or galaxy of stories) is thus given a structure and pattern that places what might have seemed to be arbitrary events into a tractable context. Perfect for the beginning pupil, this book is nonetheless eminently valuable for even the most well-read student of American history. It is perhaps too much to hope that the next volume in this series is as brilliantly done.
Rating:
Summary: A most interesting history of colonial North America
Review: Everyone else has already said it- this is an absolutely excellent history of colonial North America. Americans often don't realize that there were hundreds of years of colonization before the revolution- and that this history is a fascinating one! This is not the boring early American history that many of us had in high school.
Rating: 
Summary: very readable
Review: Good synthesis of the colonization of America, including the SW & Pacific NW. Excellent prose. My only complaint is the very abrupt ending, with no conclusion.
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