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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: 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: Great Book
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: 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: Great Book If You Want The Colonial History Jet Tour
Review: If you're interested in a brief overview of American colonial history, you will arguably not find a better book than Alan Taylor's American Colonies. This work will give you a succinct history, and it provides just the right amount of explanations when needed for the reader who is unfamiliar with the topic to be able to understand the events as they unfold. Overall, it is a great introduction to the topic. It is also excellent as a refresher for the serious student of history or history buff. Taylor did a masterful job of taking such a big story and whittling it down to its essentials in just a little under 500 pages. This book is well written, and it flows in a manner that will keep you interested as the story of American colonization unfolds. My only gripe with this work is that Taylor occasionally leans a bit too heavily toward the interpretation that the Christianized Europeans were the "bad guy" invaders and that they really did an evil thing to the Indian population by trying to subvert Indian culture with European ideology and religion. This is arguably true in many instances; however, Taylor makes no distinction between 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th century political Christianity and biblical Christianity. We in our 21st century secular world often fail to realize that during the time of colonization there was no separation of religion and state in European nations (just as their isn't any separation today in middle-eastern countries for example). As the student of western history knows, religious affiliation went hand in hand with the politics of the day. As a result of Taylor's interpretations, this work will leave the reader more often than not with a negative view of the European colonizers. However, if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be living in the greatest nation in the world.
Rating:
Summary: very good
Review: Many American history books fall into one or more of three traps: Beginning American history with Columbus in 1492, acting as if the United States was destined for independence from the beginning and limiting colonial history to English influences on the Eastern Seaboard. This book does not fall into any of these traps. Author Alan Taylor specifically set out to avoid them. The book begins with the first Americans' migration from Siberia into Alaska and ends with U.S. control of the Hawaiian Islands in 1898. Taylor also includes the Caribbean islands in his colonial history. As he points out, for much of the period before U.S. independence, the West Indies were more important to the British Crown than the mainland colonies. And settlement of the islands affected settlement on the mainland. They traded with each other and the mainland was a safety valve for the crowded islands. Ironically, the future land of the free was populated by many slaves. The conquering powers -- British, French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish -- enslaved and killed the native population in one of the greatest genocides in history. Since the Native Americans died too quickly to get much forced labor from them, indentured servants came over from Europe. If they made it through five years -- rather unlikely -- they would be free. Soon, desperation for labor brought African slaves. Taylor explains the push-pull nature of much of this migration. Some came because they were dragged in chains and some came because they were starving in their old homes. The dangers of the Americas gave rise to a different class system in the New World. Color mattered more than class. The whites were forced to band together against real and perceived fears of non-whites. They also played Native American and blacks against each other. Europeans also made Native American alliances to gain advantage over their rivals. The continued clearing and claiming of the land by Euro-Americans dispersed Native Americans. Tribes reformed and new trade patterns sprang up. Some of the most useful portions of the book explain the impact on the lives of the Plains Indians, who were not generally in direct contact with the seaboard colonies. The book is also discusses colonies in the American Southwest and the Russian colonial effort, which are too often ignored by historians. In most respects, the book is a worthy read. If not for some flaws, I would have given it another star. It suffers from lack of footnotes/endnotes. The book ends abruptly with Hawaiian King Kamehameha's death in 1819, then references American dominance of the islands in 1898. Some bridge needs to be made here. While reasonably well-written, the writing lacks sparkle and is rather pedestrian. That said, "American Colonies" is a well-rounded introduction to colonial history and would be a good American history textbook.
Rating:
Summary: Good review of things I forgot (or maybe never knew)
Review: Taylor provides an extensive - 526 pages including bibliography and index - overview of European colonial initiatives in the Atlantic, North America and parts of the Caribbean from the early 1400s - when Portuguese and Spanish proto-colonists got their feet wet, so to speak, by colonizing the Azores, Canaries and Medeiras - through Spanish and Russian efforts on the West Coast in the early 1800s. Substantial space is given to colonial efforts of the French, Dutch, and Spanish as well as English settlement in the eastern Caribbean and the east coast of what eventually became the United States.
A tragic theme throughout the book is the encounter between Europeans and Native Americans that decimated the latter, primarily through inadvertent introduction of diseases but also through warfare, slavery, appropriation of their land and destruction of the environment on which the Indians relied. Taylor also describes how the Indians repeatedly collaborated with or benefited from European traders and colonists when they perceived - often erroneously - that the Europeans' actions benefited their own economic and strategic interests. And, yes, the Indians traded in slaves - either other Indians or Africans - as well. The role and some of the impact of enslaved Africans on Colonial development is also described throughout the book.
Regarding the English colonies that became the original thirteen United States it's helpful for Taylor to remind that most of the colonies had unique beginnings that influenced their cultures and economies and politics for many years after the American revolution. For example, South Carolina essentially began as a colony of the fabulously wealthy colony of Barbados, and initiated use of enslaved Africans on a scale that dwarfed the Chesapeake tobacco plantations. And Pennsylvania started relatively late but grew quickly and prosperously as the initial English Quakers were quickly outnumbered by industrious German family farmers as opposed to indentures servants or slaves.
I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Euro-American settlement, the formative history of the United States and the interaction of Europeans with Native Americans.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This is a great book with a comprehensive scope about the settlement of America. What sets it apart from any other text is it's scope and approach. Instead of treating American history as a white anglo saxon story Taylor shows us the full range of human experience on the whole North American continent. While his focus is primarily on what would become the continental US he doesn't neglect Mexico or Canada. He also disrupts the traditional storyline of Anglo Saxon landings on the west caost and progressive advance inward into an "empty continent". Taylor shows us not only the Amerindians who were living in the American continent but the Spanish and MExicans in much of the American west, the French fur traders in the interior and the Russian settlements in the northeast. This is a great book for anyone wanting an overivew of American settlements.
Rating:
Summary: Masterful survey of American colonial history
Review: Traditionally, coverage of "colonial America" is confined to the study of the thirteen English colonies of the eastern seaboard - a narrow focus that overlooks the vast scope of European involvement in North America, to say nothing of the diverse peoples who had occupied the continent for millennia before Christopher Columbus's historic voyage. Alan Taylor rectifies this imbalance with this book, a wide-ranging survey of the first three centuries of the European presence on the continent and its impact on its inhabitants.
His scope is impressive. After an initial chapter that provides a 14,500 year overview of the population migration that settled the continent, Taylor settles into a masterful examination of the establishment of the European colonies in the region. The canvas is immense, encompassing the Spanish settlements of the Southwest, the exploration of Canada, and the establishment of the plantation colonies in the West Indies, as well as the colonization of the Atlantic seaboard by nearly a half-dozen European countries. Through his account he pays particularly close attention to their interaction with the indigenous population, as well as the trans-Atlantic relations with Europe and Africa.
Taylor's macro-historical approach does not exclude the details of settlement, though. Throughout the book, the narrative focuses on the individuals and societies of the various regions, detailing the choices they made, the factors that went into them, and how these choices shaped subsequent development. The result is a collection of divergent stories that would all eventually be tied together (though not necessarily within these pages) into the United States of today.
As the first book in the "Penguin History of the United States," Taylor has set the bar high for the subsequent volumes. By blending the latest scholarship and perspectives into a well-written account, he has produced a superb history of America's colonial development, one that is essential reading for anyone interested the subject and will likely remain the standard for years to come.
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