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- A must have for all who are interested in the early settlement of Virginia and New England
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Captain John Smith: Writings with Other Narratives of Roanoke, Jamestown, and the First English Settlement of America
John Smith
Manufacturer: Library of America
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ASIN: 1598530011
Release Date: 2007-02-01 |
Book Description
One of the truly legendary figures of American history, the soldier, explorer, and colonist Captain John Smith was a vivid and prolific chronicler of the beginnings of English settlement in the New World. This volume brings together seven of his works, along with 16 additional narratives by 13 other writers, that recount firsthand the tragic, harrowing, and dramatic events of the settlement of Roanoke and Jamestown.
A founder of Jamestown in 1607, Smith's courage, determination, and leadership proved crucial to its survival. A True Relation tells of the colony's perilous first year, while The Proceedings and The Generall Historie continue the story of its struggle to survive and prosper. A Description of New England and New Englands Trials describe Smith's exploration of the northern coast and the prospects for its settlement. In The True Travels Smith recalls his adventures as a soldier in Eastern Europe and his amazing escape from Turkish slavery. Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters, his last book, is a critical examination of the successes and failures of the English colonial enterprise. Written in a consistently lively style, Smith's works are filled with suspense, astonishment, and keen observations of American Indian cultures and New World landscapes.
The 16 additional narratives include accounts of the "Lost Colony" of Roanoke, the horrific "starving time" at Jamestown, and a shipwreck off Bermuda. Amplifying and sometimes challenging Smith's version of events, these narratives capture the fear and fascination of early encounters with the Indians; the brutality, desperation, and ingenuity of settlers facing extreme hardship; the complex interplay of feuds and rivalries, both between the English and the Powhatan Indians and within the colony itself; and the enduring story of Pocahontas, who came to occupy a unique place between two cultures. Included in the volume are 29 pages of contemporary drawings, 15 of them full-color illustrations by John White.
Customer Reviews:
A must have for all who are interested in the early settlement of Virginia and New England.......2007-04-05
Captain John Smith did an amazing amount of living in the fifty-one years he lived on Earth. His life's journey began in 1580 at Willoughy, England. He left home at 16 after his father's death to become a soldier fighting in France for Dutch Independence from Spain. In other words, he was a mercenary. He went to work in the Mediterranean Sea on a merchant ship in 1598. In 1600 he went to the Austrians to fight in Hungary against the Turks and fought so valiantly that he was promoted to Captain. Fighting in Transylvania in 1602, he was wounded, captured, and sold as a slave to a Turk. He was then given to a girl who sent him to her brother to get training for Imperial service. Being very ill treated by this Pasha, Smith killed him and escaped. He fled through Russia and then Poland, was released from service, received a large reward and spent time traveling throughout Europe. During the winter of 1604-05 he returned to England. All this before the events we know him for began in Virginia and New England!
His restless nature somehow got him involved with the plans to colonize the Virginia territory for profit. King James I granted the charter and the expedition set sail on December 20, 1606. While this is more than a century after Columbus, it was still a huge and costly undertaking to what was almost unknown territory. The three tiny ships were the Discovery (20 tons), Susan Constant (120 tons), and Godspeed (40 tons). They did not land in Virginia until April 1607 after a voyage of more than four months. Smith was on the list of seven council members that was designated to govern the colony. The winter was harsh, fresh water was hard to come by, sickness ravaged the colonists, and the local Indians, ruled by Powhatan (Wahunsonacock), were antagonistic to the newcomers. Smith became the leader and led the fight against the Indian raids and negotiating with them for food enough to supplement their meager stores.
In December of 1607, the famous incident of Smith being taken to Powhatan and being saved by Pocahontas occurred. Like much in Smith's writings, it is hard to separate the braggadocio from the fact. Apparently there was some kind of ceremony that involved a ritual death and renewal of life whereby Smith became some kind of subordinate chief member of the tribe. Smith may not have understood the ceremony well and indeed may well have believed that the 11 year old princess saved his life.
Life was very hard at Jamestown and dissent grew. Smith was elected President in September 1608 and has the fort reinforced and emphasizes military training among the colonists. During the winter, Powhatan refused to provide food because he believes that the colonists are not there to trade but to take Indian lands. After difficult negotiations they trade swords and guns for food. Things continue to be difficult and now the resentment focuses on Smith. He is badly burned when his powder keg caught fire. A group leading colonists deposes Smith and he sails back to England part in resentment and part for treatment of his injuries in October.
He is active in promoting colonization of the new territories and heads back in 1614, but he cannot go to Virginia. He focuses on the area north that he called New England. Smith traveled to many areas there and in 1615 founded a colony in Maine. He is captured by a French privateer and is unable to return to England until December. In 1622, Indians kill more than 300 colonists. Smith's offer to lead the military fight against the natives is rejected.
During these years in England, Smith published some works to provide him some much needed income. He finds the right stories to tell and several of his writings sold quite well. He died in 1631 at 51 years old and was buried at St. Sepulchres in the City of London.
This summary of his life is there merest outline of events. There is much much more covered in this treasure trove of a book.
The wonderful Library of America provides us with Smith's "A True Relation", "The Proceedings of the English Colony in Virginia" (parts written by a variety of folks), "A Description of New England", "New Englands Trials" [sic], "The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles", "The True Travels", and his "Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters of New-England". The words in these titles such as "trials" and "advertisements" had a much different meaning four hundred years ago. The point was that by 1620 thousands of people were risking their lives to try to settle in Virginia and New England and they wanted information. Smith gave them good information about what they were going to face. Oh, he certainly boasted and gave himself credit for things that others did, but his descriptions of what it takes to survive there are quite good.
This volume does not contain Smith's two books on sea travel. However, it does contain an additional four hundred pages of writings by others about the settling of Virginia. One covers the settlement of Roanoke before the Jamestown voyage. Others are written independently of Smith, at least one was written in response to his "Generall Historie" that upset some who felt he took to himself their deeds. They are all fascinating.
There are also pages of black and white plates showing aspects of Smith's life and other aspects of the early settlement including etchings of Smith and even of Pocahontas (Lady Rebecca) in her English finery during her one, fatal, year in England. There is another set of plates that are in color and show Indian life at the time of the events of this book. We get many useful maps, and index, notes on the text, notes on the plates, and a chronology of Smith's life.
This is a rich text that provides important history of early American settlement that everyone interested in the founding and history of our nation will want to read and know. The early events with the Indians are fascinating as are the descriptions of the trade and battles. Even the variety of spellings are fascinating. Yes, orthography was not standardized, but it is interesting how the same words are spelled differently even within the same writing let alone between authors.
A must have for all who appreciate American history.
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A Rambling Fancy: In the Footsteps of Jane Austen (Cadogan Guide)
Caroline Sanderson
Manufacturer: Cadogan Guides
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ASIN: 1860113281 |
Book Description
In A Rambling Fancy, Caroline Sanderson seeks out Jane Austen’s England – the churches, great houses, coaching inns, rectories and seaside lodgings – to see what still remains today. Following in Jane Austen’s footsteps, Sanderson tramps the muddy fields around Austen’s childhood home in rural Hampshire, walks the elegant streets of Bath, and strolls along the breezy promenades of south coast resort. Drawing upon Jane Austen’s letters as well as her many novels Caroline Sanderson charts her own experiences of the very places from which Jane Austen sought inspiration, reaching some original and fascinating conclusions.
Sanderson, a lifelong Austen devotee, also sheds light on just why this very English novelist is still so universally cherished and why Austen’s influence remains so great. Are we riding a wave of nostalgia for a way of life now completely lost to us? Or have we finally cast off the chintz and embraced Austen as a novelist for our own times – one whose understanding of how we behave towards one another, and of the importance of money, sex and social status is just as pertinent as it ever was?
Customer Reviews:
One Woman's Footsteps.......2007-04-08
I read this while in England. It is just one woman's opinion and reactions to various places that Jane Austen knew or wrote about. The author revisits these places herself and writes about how they are now. To me, the best part was what she wrote about the bedrooms in Chawton (Jane Austen's home) - I hadn't known there had been work done since my last visit. Her descriptions motivated me to return to Chawton. I'd say this book is not a valuable addition to the Austen-lover's library but it is of some interest to the dedicated fan. Some of her descriptions were sufficient; I no longer felt I had to visit those places myself. She does a fair amount of extra digging and research that enhances her visits and takes them beyond what I would be able to get out of going to the same places. Steventon is a place in point, as nothing of the original house remains except a pump in a field. The author went to a lot of trouble to find out what had been there when Austen was growing up. The worst part of the book for me was the misuse of a quote about Wickham, which the author used to state that Wickham used to go to Bath when he regretted his marriage to Lydia and needed more excitement. The actual quote merely said, "Lydia was occasionally a visitor there, when her husband was gone to enjoy himself in London or Bath..."
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The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Hardy (Cambridge Companions to Literature)
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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ASIN: 0521566924 |
Book Description
The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Hardy is an essential introduction to this most enigmatic of writers. These newly commissioned essays from an international team of contributors comprise a general overview of all of Thomas Hardy's work and specific demonstrations of his ideas and literary skills. Individual essays explore Hardy's biography, aesthetics, his famous attachment to Wessex, and the impact on his work of developments in science, religion and philosophy in the late-nineteenth century. The volume also contains a detailed chronology of Hardy's life, and a guide to further reading.
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Michelin Wales, the Midlands, South West England
Michelin Travel Publications
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ASIN: 206100735X |
Book Description
An annually updated road map of Wales, the West Country and the Midlands of Great Britain, covering the main and secondary road networks across the region. Scale: 1/400,000 - 1cm=4km - 1in: 6.30miles Legend/Key in four languages (English, French, German, Dutch)
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Michelin THE GREEN GUIDE West Country of England/Channel Islands, 5e (THE GREEN GUIDE)
Michelin Travel Publications
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ASIN: 2060000386 |
Book Description
The miles of coastline, combined with long hours of sunshine, are ideal for family holidays. Cream teas and fish suppers tempt the appetite. Enjoy the wild beauty of the moors, admire the elegance of 18C architecture and discover the maritime heritage of major ports and fishing villages. THE GREEN GUIDE, the perfect travel companion: a discerning and up-to-date source of information. Practical and comprehensive, it offers suggestions on what to see and what to do, background on history and cultural heritage. Ideal guides for the independent tourist, THE GREEN GUIDE explores destinations both near and far. Sights are rated - 3 stars "worth a journey", 2 stars "worth a detour" and 1 star "interesting". Maps and itineraries make planning easy, whether visiting the highlights or venturing off the beaten track. Travel with THE GREEN GUIDE for an exciting and memorable experience.
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The South West Coast Path: From Minehead to South Haven Point (British Long-distance Trails)
Paddy Dillon
Manufacturer: Cicerone Press
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ASIN: 1852843799 |
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- Unreferenced claims, and Media Stereotypes.
- A complete, and very thorough history of Southie
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South Boston, My Home Town: The History of an Ethnic Neighborhood
Thomas H. O'Connor
Manufacturer: Northeastern University Press
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ASIN: 1555531881 |
Book Description
An engaging yet objective look at the 350-year old history of "Southie," a neighborhood that has survived largely unchanged since the early days of immigrant Irish families and old-time political bosses.
Customer Reviews:
Unreferenced claims, and Media Stereotypes........2003-08-18
Written by a South Boston expatriate [who hasn't lived in South Boston for decades], the book: 'SOUTH BOSTON: My Home Town - The History of an Ethnic Neighborhood' (c. 1988, 1994) by B.C. history professor Thomas H. O'Connor, ignored the usual tenets of logic and historiography and took a contingent and non-teleological world view of the history of his ex-neighborhood, South Boston.
Containing all the usual ingrediants of determinism - such as: truisms (e.g. "The Dorchester Heights monument was completed in 1901 ..." p. 107) interpreted with many unreferenced categorical statements (e.g. " 'Most' of the Irish who came to America ..." p 78, and "In 'most' South Boston Schools ..." p. 121, or " ... the anti-semitism among 'some' Irish Catholics ..." p. 186); Professor O'Connor, in an attempt to initiate a self-fulfilling prophecy, simply collected a series of stereotypes which coincided with the media coverage of the anti-forced busing events of 1974-1984 Boston, of which he personally was not involved!
This blatant manipulation of information is further enhanced by these curiously irresponsible statements that "To a great extent, Irish emigrants brought their traditional drinking habits with them when they came to America." (p. 44) and " ... the potato was the absolute mainstay of the Irish diet." (p. 47). In light of the facts that the first beer pump in Boston is found in South Boston at the German bar "Amrheims"; and in Ireland, the Irish don't just eat potatoes!
As a further case in reader manipulation, the book 'SOUTH BOSTON: My Home Town' contained an anachronism as Prof. O'Connor perpetuated a crude specimen of Boston 'Mytho-history'. On page 254 in Prof. O'Connor's sources is found the screed LIBERTY'S CHOSEN HOME (c.1977) where journalist Alan Lupo related the excited outburst of an anti-forced busing protester in 1974 to then Mayor Kevin White that: "No matter how poor we were, Kevin, we always had clean lace curtains on our windows"(p. 30). And through sheer hyperbole, this exclamation from a non-Irish women found its way into 'SOUTH BOSTON: My Home Town' (p. 87) as the 1901 long established tradition of "the lace curtain Irish"! It is undocumented that there has ever been a lace curtain Irish in Boston and this description is specious.
The book 'SOUTH BOSTON: My Home Town' presented a series of inconsistencies and mechanistically biased views of the author's former hometown: Prof. O'Connor emphasized white racism and ignored all the black racism found in Boston (p. 219); constantly referred to South Boston as an 'ethnic' neighborhood, but didn't describe at EXACTLY what point South Boston became a 'white' neighborhood when it came to his description of forced busing (p. 209); the author mentioned historical 'forces' throughout his work with no explanation of exactly what those mysterious 'forces' were? (e.g. pgs. 115 & 246); and in confusing digressions for correlations, Prof. O'Connor committed the 'post hoc' fallacy by constantly comparing two disassociate events: the Irish immigrants in the 1854 North End (Boston) as a "theme" (p. 32) for the behaviour of the Irish American minority in 1974 South Boston, two miles away and 120 years later! (An illegitimate teleology occurs when an author speculates, without sufficient proof, that x causes y).
The omission of relevant data also marred 'SOUTH BOSTON: My Home Town' as Prof. O'Connor listed some of the whimsical nicknames (p. 178) found among South Boston residents but neglected to include his poster boy's, former mayor Ray Flynn, sobriquet of 'Mel' Flynn (and why he earned it). Also omitted from this work was the fact that the Irish American became a vocal minority by 1974, surpassed in the 1950s by Lithuanian, Polish, Estonian, Latvian, and Albanian immigrants fleeing communist persecution by the former Soviet Union - thereby breaking any contingency between the Irish immigrants of 1854 Boston, and the Irish American of 1974 South Boston! There were also 240 Afro-American families, plus a small colony of Mic Mac Indians from the Canadian Maritimes living in Southie when the Federal judge declared the Boston Schools segregated, which escaped the author's attention.
Though this was supposed to be a history of South Boston, the author tended to drag in the history of all the Irish no matter how far or removed from Southie; e.g. Irish immigrants of New York city. (This is where Prof. O'Connor's specialty in demographics tended to displace his knowledge of South Boston history.) Then, inconsistently, Prof. O'Connor failed to mention the most segregated and insulated neighborhood in Boston's entire history - Chinatown!
Professor O'Connor's collection of generalizations, unsubstantiated allegations, and unreferenced claims, makes it impossible for the researcher to verify his information. The yarn: 'SOUTH BOSTON: My Home Town' by history professor Thomas H. O'Connor, is a distorted work which is not history, but encompassed all the worse traits of a poorly written biography. By allowing his imagination to run away with him and indulging in a weak psychobiographic speculation with few sources or no proof, professor Thomas H. O'Connor had produced not a technically proficient work of history, but a weak biography on his ex-neighborhood, with all the veracity and authority of an eighth grade book report.
Any life long resident of South Boston would immediately pick out the flaws and errors of this work (e.g. Life long South Boston residents do not refer to themselves as 'Southies'!)
'SOUTH BOSTON: My Home Town: The History of an Ethnic Neighborhod' is a perpetuation of many media stereotypes, documented truisms, vague categorical statements, and added nothing new to the knowledge of South Boston's history.
A complete, and very thorough history of Southie.......2000-07-11
I had to read this book...and comment on it. Like Thomas O'Connor, I am also a native of Southie. Using a voluminous store of references, and countless personal interviews, O'Connor has written the most comprehensive history of "The Town" I've ever read. He takes the reader from the very beginnings of life in the relatively isolated peninsula settlement, through the cultural, ethnic, occupational, and religious history of the residents, emphasizing their insular nature, seemingly always at odds with the rest of Boston and other outsiders, right through the 80's.
The detailed background information provided by O'Connor over an entire chapter, regarding the forced busing for school integration and ensuing Southie riots, will give the non-Southie(and maybe some Southies also) reader a much better understanding, and different perspective, on the town. O'Connor is clear on the causes of the riots, namely a clueless judge following the path paved by a self-serving state legislature that passed a law which would preclude busing to Boston's lily-white suburbs, compounded of course by Southie's insular nature and desires to maintain their neighborhood schools. I recommend Michael MacDonald's recently published "All Souls" for a terrific read on the tragic experiences of one very poor Southie family in the projects during the those riots in the 70's, and on through the 80's, into the 90's.
Overall..a terrific historic work on South Boston by O'Connor..the best Ive ever read.
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- NANTUCKETERS BEHIND THE VEIL
- Portuguese & Irish Ancestry
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The Other Islanders: People Who Pulled Nantucket's Oars
Frances Ruley Karttunen
Manufacturer: Spinner Publications
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ASIN: 0932027938
Release Date: 2005-07-01 |
Product Description
Contrary to what public records and popular literature might lead us to believe, Nantucket is historically an island of rich cultural diversity. Here, author Frances Ruley Karttunen introduces us to the original Nantucketers--the Wampanoags--as well as the African slaves, Pacific Islanders, Irish refugees, Azoreans and Cape Verdean immigrants and other ethnic groups that have contributed to the island's history and added dimension to Nantucket's culture.
Customer Reviews:
NANTUCKETERS BEHIND THE VEIL.......2006-03-15
Fran Karttunen has contributed a sumptuous clambake for islanders and the millions of 'coofs' among us, that is, off-islanders of every sort: tourists, summertime residents, historians, artists, fishing enthusiasts, day-laborers, weekend executives. And what do we find?
We discover a meticulously researched story of those who often lived behind the veil. They were those who rarely lived on Main Street where only those who counted resided, those mythical stoic Anglophile Yankee 'CAPTAINS.' But who "pulled Nantucket's oars" aboard the fragile whale boats and who labored behind the scenes, Karttunen asks? Who bunked in the fo'c'sles, hearded the sheep, cooked and served meals, erected homes then and now, lost indigenous property, or were themselves the enslaved property of others? Beyond the island's first people of color were the Canackas, Portuguese, Irish, Azorians, Jamaicans, Germans, Latvians .... They were and are us, Americans of every color and creed who have bonded together in some mysterious way by falling in love with this 'far away isle.' Fran Karttunen, herself of island stock, masterfully and compassionately unvails this untold story of the "other" islanders.
Portuguese & Irish Ancestry.......2006-03-08
If anyone has Portuguese or Irish ancestry, whose relatives immigrated to the Cape Cod & Islands in the 1800's, this book is a treasure trove of information.
There are family histories, celebrations, stories about what motivated them, what brought them joy. PLEASE, buy a copy for your children. NO ONE knows this history anymore.
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Hidden Inns of the West Country including Dorset, Somerset, Devon & Cornwall
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Shakespeare Country and the Cotswolds (Landmark Visitors Guides) (Landmark Visitors Guides)
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