Showing titles in Colonial Period

A Sweeping History of the Great State of New Jersey New Jersey has always been more than a place between New York and Philadelphia. From the Lenape who first inhabited its river valleys to the diverse communities that make it America's most multicultural state, New Jersey has served as a laboratory for the American experiment—pioneering industry, immigration, suburbanization, and environmental protection. The Garden State traces New Jersey's remarkable journey from Revolutionary battlefield to industrial powerhouse, from Ellis Island gateway to suburban frontier. Here are the stories of ...

Francis J. Bremer focuses on the role of religion in the settlement of the Plymouth Colony and how those values influenced political, intellectual, and cultural aspects of New England life 150 years before the American Revolution. He traces the Puritans' persecution in early 17th-century England for challenging the established national church and the difficulties they faced as refugees in the Netherlands in the 1610s.

One of the most infamous American freethinkers in his day, Elihu Palmer has been largely forgotten. No cache of his personal papers exists, and his book has been long out of print. Yet his story merits telling, Kirsten Fischer argues, and not only for the dramatic account of a man who lost his eyesight before the age of 30 and still became a book author, newspaper editor, and itinerant public speaker.

The First American Cookbook: A Facsimile of "American Cookery," 1796 by Amelia Simmons is a historic culinary landmark, recognized as the first cookbook written and published in America. Originally released in 1796, this work provides a fascinating glimpse into early American cooking, blending traditional English recipes with indigenous ingredients such as cornmeal, squash, and turkey. Notably, it includes the earliest recorded recipe for pairing turkey with cranberries and introduces the use of pearlash, a precursor to modern baking powder, revolutionizing baking techniques of the time.

 Revolutionary Surgeons offers an integrated picture of surgeons as political and military leaders of the American Revolution.   

The story of the Mayflower is one of adventure, courage, and destiny. Leaving England in September of 1620, the ship carried 102 English Separatists to a new life, one that came with the freedom to practice their religious beliefs as they saw fit. These Pilgrims had the courage of their convictions. They had already potentially faced execution for practicing their beliefs, and now they were willing to uproot their lives, their families, and their homes, to sign contracts of indentured servitude - all to find what they called freedom in a foreign land.

In 1609, two years after its English founding, colonists struggled to stay alive in a tiny fort at Jamestown. John Smith fought to keep order. When he left, desperate colonists ate lizards, rats, and human flesh. Meanwhile, the Virginia-bound Sea Venture was shipwrecked on Bermuda, the dreaded, uninhabited “Isle of Devils”. Bermuda became England’s second New World colony in 1612. A Tale of Two Colonies examines the existing sources on the colonies, sets them in a transatlantic context, and weighs them against circumstantial evidence.

This compelling counter-narrative to the familiar story of the Puritans combines a rich understanding of the period with a close reading of early texts to bring the contentious Morton to life. This volume sheds new light on the tumultuous formative decades of the American experience.

The one character trait that, sometimes, surpasses the human instinct for survival is curiosity. When humans discovered an entire hemisphere that lay beyond their own Eastern Hemisphere, the race was on. What opportunities would these new lands hold? Surely, a small country in Europe could wield the power of an empire if it could claim these new lands in the Americas.

A Sweeping History of the Great State of Maryland From the Chesapeake Bay's ancient shores to the corridors of modern Washington, Maryland has stood at the crossroads of American history for nearly four centuries. In this compelling entry in The Hardy Histories of the States of America series, discover how a small colony founded on religious tolerance became one of the nation's most influential states. The Old Line State traces Maryland's remarkable journey from the Piscataway and Nanticoke peoples through Lord Baltimore's Catholic haven to today's high-tech powerhouse. Witness the birth of...

This book provides important new insights into The Family of Indian Trader and Author James Adair. Present-day historians, sociologists, and anthropologists describe Adair’s 1775 publication, The History of the American Indians, as “one of the most valuable primary accounts of the southeastern Indians.” Yet, after the publication of his work, Adair disappeared from public view. Scholars frequently ask: Did the historian settle in upstate South Carolina? Was he the same person as James Adair of Duncan Creek? Was he a brother of Joseph Adair of Duncan Creek? Was he a brother of William ...

This book reveals the hidden history, the untold story of the Alamo, of the Alamo and its relationship to myth, lies, slavery, and white supremacy. The author presents academic knowledge and simple language to present a greater understanding of the facts about the Alamo that have been erased. “The Alamo: A Cradle of Lies, Slavery, and White Supremacy is a timely book for the current national conversation/debate about the value of our democracy. The ‘glorious defense’ of the Alamo has been taught in American history as an example of patriotic courage when in fact, the battle of the ...

North America is full of natural wonders, but few inspire as much awe as Niagara Falls, the continent's most famous waterfalls. Comprised of three separate waterfalls (Horseshoe Falls, American Falls, and Bridal Veil Falls), Niagara's falls can boast the fastest flow rate in the world, dropping six million cubic feet of water every minute from as high as 185 feet. Situated on the border between the United States and Canada, Niagara Falls is not just a prime tourist spot but a source of hydroelectric power.

John Jay served as the inaugural president of a pioneering antislavery society. His descendants, especially his son William and his grandson John Jay II, embraced radical abolitionism in the nineteenth century, the cause most likely to rend the nation. The scorn of their elite peers—and racist mobs—did not deter their commitment to end southern slavery and to combat northern injustice. This remarkable family story forces us to grapple with what we mean by patriotism, conservatism, and radicalism. Their story speaks directly to our own divided times.

In The Currency of Empire, Jonathan Barth explores the intersection of money and power in the early years of North American history, and he shows how the control of money informed English imperial action overseas. The export-oriented mercantile economy promoted by the English Crown, Barth argues, directed the plan for colonization, the regulation of colonial commerce, and the politics of empire. The imperial project required an orderly flow of gold and silver, and thus England's colonial regime required stringent monetary regulation.

The untold story of how America’s beloved first president, George Washington, borrowed, leveraged, and coerced his way into masterminding the key land purchase of the American era, which lead to the creation the nation’s capital city.

New York, a small town on the tip of Manhattan Island, 1746. One evening, a handsome young stranger off the boat from England pitches up to a counting house on Golden Hill Street, with a compelling proposition - he has an order for 1,000 pounds in his pocket that he wishes to cash. But can he be trusted? New York is a place where a young man with a fast tongue can reinvent himself, fall in love, and find trouble....

A great inventor, journalist, satirist, politician - a true Renaissance man - Benjamin Franklin perfectly embodied the traits we now treasure as "American."

Outside of the Midwest, the Chippewa are not as well known as other Native American tribes like the Sioux or Cherokee, but they have long been one of the biggest groups in all of North America. Not surprisingly their presence around the Great Lakes region made them especially important to early European explorers who sailed the St. Lawrence and came into contact with the natives as they continued searching for the Northwest Passage.

From early slave rebels to radical reformers of the Civil War era and beyond, the struggle to end slavery was a diverse, dynamic, and ramifying social movement. In this succinct narrative, Richard S. Newman examines the key people, themes, and ideas that animated abolitionism in the 18th and 19th centuries in the United States and internationally. Filled with portraits of key abolitionists - including Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Anthony Benezet, Toussaint L'Ouverture, Elizabeth Heyrick, Richard Allen, and Angelina Grimke - the book highlights abolitionists' focus on social and political action.