Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (America: a Cultural History)86 reviews David Hackett Fischer Oxford University Press, USA, 1989 Indispensable for understanding the origins of the American Civil War + British Folkways and migration + Non-professional appreciation + Fantastic Book!!!! + America's Cradle             The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity32 reviews Jill Lepore Vintage, 1999 how we came to be us + History as Vivisection One of the most interesting, thought-provoking books I have read. The scholarship is impressive, the prose lucid, the presentation of a conflict that has more than two sides is commendably fair. The book is a real eye-opener. And it has the excitement of a detective story, as Lepore tracks changes ...             A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-181238 reviews Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Vintage, 1991 Amazingly preserved firsthand account of colonial America + Rural Colonial Life is More Interesting Than You Think I greatly enjoyed this book, which gave a truly unique and rare perspective into female life in early Colonial New England. Thoroughly absorbing the chapters is truly co-dependent on simultaneously reading through the footnotes at the back, so know in advance that there will be a lot of flipping ...             Boone: A Biography (Shannon Ravenel Books)24 reviews Robert Morgan Algonquin Books, 2008 An Icon Become Human + Engrossing and excellent portrait of a great man What strikes me as the greatest accomplishment of Robert Morgan in this biography of Daniel Boone is stripping away the myth and describing the person. I read a recent biography of Kit Carson that did the same thing. As such, both authors have done readers a great service. Boone himself was a ...             The Reshaping of Everyday Life: 1790-1840 (Everyday Life in America)7 reviews Jack Larkin Harper Perennial, 1989 Excellent Summary of Everyday Life + Everyday life in America before the railroads & industrialization + Knowing our Past + Excellent Overview + Every man was an island             William Cooper's Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic10 reviews Alan Taylor Vintage, 1996 Fascinating + Great American historical book! + Politics & Prestige in America's Infancy + Excellent Read, A Bit Over-Focused on "Gentility" + Magisterial?             The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas32 reviews John Buchanan Wiley, 1999 A Stunning historical achievement! + a good military history of the Southern campaign + Quite good + Good but not Great + Mixed feelings             Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America141 reviews James Webb Broadway, 2005 Want to know why so many Americans cling to guns and religion? + You can't stomp `em out and you can't make `em run... + Highly readable + Understanding the Liberal/Redneck Divide             Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War278 reviews Nathaniel Philbrick Penguin (Non-Classics), 2007 book review + A Good Read + A great, mythbusting yarn + Riveting Historical Novel of America's Early History             The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth4 reviews Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Vintage Books, 2002 something special + Material Artifacts Spun Into Historical Silk + Why Do We Keep That Old Junk? + The Antiques Roadshow on Steroids             Carolina Cradle: Settlement of the Northwest Carolina Frontier, 1747-17625 reviews Robert W. Ramsey The University of North Carolina Press, 1987 Most informative and interesting I have read on genealogy . + Informative, Well Wrtiien and Documented + Wonderful book for North Carolina researchers + This is a great book to have.             Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation25 reviews Peter L. Bernstein W. W. Norton, 2006 Don't be turned off by the negative reviews. Whaddaya mean no map? I was hesitant to buy this after reading negative reviews. However, it's compelling enough that I've read about 100 pages a day. I can only assume that the paperback has no map or the reviewers failed to find it in the beginning. My hardback edition has a useful map in the front which I turned ...             The Great Meadow: Farmers and the Land in Colonial Concord (Yale Agrarian Studies Series) Brian Donahue Yale University Press, 2007 The farmers of colonial New England have been widely accused of farming extensively, neglecting manure, wearing out their land, and moving on. But did they? And if so, when and why? Brian Donahue offers an innovative, accessible, and authoritative history of the early farming practices of Concord, Massachusetts, and challenges the long-standing notion that colonial husbandry degraded the land. In ...             Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Pennsylvania Frontier7 reviews James H. Merrell W. W. Norton & Company, 2000 On Both Sides of the Council Fire + Into the American Woods + PA as it was for my Scotch-Irish Pioneer Ancestors + Ambiguous Legacy             In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life4 reviews James Deetz Anchor, 1996 Remember Small Things + Little things mean a lot + copied directly from Scientific American Nov. 96 The main thrust of Deetz's argument in this book points to the incomplete nature of the traditional historian's approach to understanding past societies. By focusing only on written documentation, traditional historians necessarily confine the groups they can examine to literate societies, thereby ...             The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America28 reviews John Putnam Demos Vintage, 1995 The extraordinary tale and religious journey of a New England girl + An Ethno-historical Masterwork + Impeccable scholarship, vital insights into culture conflicts of the past, and present A walk through the shady streets of Old Deerfield, Massachusetts, presents many fine views -- the stately old homes, the colonial doorways, the lonely Union Army sentinel atop the town's sandstone monument, and Frank Boyden's splendid prep school, Deerfield Academy. A stroller then comes to the ...             Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 206932 reviews Neil Howe, William Strauss Harper Perennial, 1992 Remarkably prescient, especially now + What to Expect As You Age + Generations + Major hit after all these years!!!             Washington's Crossing86 reviews David Hackett Fischer Oxford University Press, 2006 Captures the Humanity of Washington and the New Nation + Very Good + A Rewarding Work + Fantastic! + A great read             Measuring America: How an Untamed Wilderness Shaped the United States and Fulfilled the Promise ofDemocracy7 reviews Andro Linklater Plume, 2003 This book really measures up! + Reviewing "Measuring America" + Measure for Measure + The shaping of America + This book answers a lot of questions!             The Times of Their Lives: Life, Love, and Death in Plymouth Colony8 reviews James Deetz, Patricia Scott Deetz Anchor, 2001 Shatter the Stereotype + Good Work, But They Should've Done Even Better + really good + The Pilgrims through History, Myth and Archeology + Essential Deetz