Alan Taylor produces a fresh look at colonial America. He covers Native American tribes, European contact, slavery, wars, and the opening of the western frontier.
Alan Taylor’s book, American Colonies: The Settling of North America, encompasses the history of North America from 13,000 BC to 1820. He divides the book into three chapters, which allows the reader to break down the book and not necessarily have to read it in order. This is helpful since the book is 477 pages long.
Encounters
This first chapter begins with the controversial subject of where Native Americans came from. Prior to explaining the Bering Strait theory, Taylor writes a disclaimer stating that what he writes in regards to where Natives originated from is purely speculation and the theory changes daily. Taylor never states his view on the theory, which is good. He is then able to write an objective view as opposed to a bias view. Taylor is meticulous in defining the various cultures of the Native Americans and where they North America. A few of the tribes he mentions are the Paleo, Archaic, Hohokam, Anasazi, Mound Builders, and Iroquois.Taylor continues the first chapter with describing the
• Natives, 13,000 B.C. – A.D. - 1492
• Colonizers, 1400 - 1800 • New Spain, 1500 – 1600
• The Spanish Frontier, 1530 - 1700
• Canada and Iroquoia, 1500 – 1660 He ends the first chapter with 1660.
Colonies
With the second chapter, Taylor breaks down each regional area of the colonies.
• Virginia, 1570 – 1650
• Chesapeake Colonies, 1650 – 1750
• New England, 1600 – 1700
• Puritans and Indians, 1600 – 1700
• The West Indies, 1600 – 1700
• Carolina, 1670 – 1700
• Middle Colonies, 1600 – 1700
By highlighting the dates in which the colonies were established makes it easy for the reader, particularly a student of history, who is interested in a particular period.
Empires
In the third and final chapter, Taylor reflects on the many European empires that claimed North America for themselves, but not without a fight. He explains the Navigation Act and the effect it had on the colonies and how England became concerned with the relationship between the French and Indians. The chapter is broken down as follows:
• Revolutions, 1885 – 1730
• The Atlantic, 1700 – 80
• Awakenings, 1700 – 75
• French America, 1650 – 1750
• The Great Plains, 1680 – 1800
• Imperial Wars and Crisis, 1739 – 75
• The Pacific, 1760 – 1820
Professors of history often use Taylor’s American Colonies: The Settling of North America in teaching Colonial America. Many college and university professors give the book a strong review due to Taylor’s in depth research. This book goes beyond giving the basic colonial American history. A full bibliography is found in the back of the book. Alan Taylor a Pulitzer Prize winner for his book William Cooper’s Town, based on the life of William Cooper and his son, James Fennimore Cooper, teaches History at the University of California at Davis.
American Colonies: The Settling of North America. New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc., 2002.
