LAND WHERE OUR FATHERS DIED

by Marion L. Starkey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 21, 1962

There is more to this latest volume in the""Mainstream of America"" Series (Lewis Gannett, Editor) than is indicated by the subtitle: The Settling of the Eastern Shores, 1607-1735. As is proper, the author, a professor of English at the University of Connecticut and author of four similar studies, writes of time and place, problems and personalities, in the early American settlements on the Atlantic seaboard, but gives as well a sense of the first stirrings of nationality, of future independence, of which the settlers were barely aware. Following no set chronological order, the narrative skips from ""The Great Migration"" to Massachusetts in 1630 to Jamestown, Virginia, founded in 1807, with its inefficient management, its internal upheavals, and its delightful heroine, Pocahontas. Writing of Massachusetts Bay, the author tells of the trials of the Pilgrim Mothers and the clashes of religion and personality that nearly disrupted the colony and drove Roger Williams and the difficult martyr, Ann Hutchinson, to exile in Rhode Island. Other Atlantic settlements are here as well: Quaker Pennsylvania; Maryland and Carolina and Georgia; Dutch New Amsterdam, and a little Swedish colony in New Jersey that the Dutch swallowed before they were themselves gulped down by the British. Well written and admirably documented, this readable volume will appeal to armchair historians who care more for men, women and the realities of early American life than for disputed boundaries; professional students and teachers will value it for its excellent bibliographical notes.

Pub Date: Sept. 21, 1962

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1962

Categories: NONFICTION