193 pages
© 1988 David Freeman Hawke
Daily Life in Early
America examines up-close the new world European colonists were discovering
and recreating for themselves. A social
history, focused on daily life, the author begins first in England, reviewing
quickly what work and social customs the colonists would have been accustomed
to. It begins and continues as a study
in variety, for there was no ‘average’ English colonist; manners and means of
living varied widely from county to county, even before they combined with German
and Dutch settlers on the North American seaboard. Although
I read this as background for Independence Day readings, early
America well and truly means early. Hawke tells the tale of men creating a civilization from the
wilderness, often borrowing largely from the disease-vanquished native cultures
which collapsed or retreated following exposure to European guns, germs, and
steel. Although they attempted to recreate what they left behind in North
America, creating a New England on the
model of the old, the challenges and
opportunities presented by the vast frontier spurred the evolution of a different
culture. Covering everything from floor plans to the art of war, from superstition to politics, Daily Life in Early America delivers an abundance of information in lively style. This is definitely an author to look more into..
Related:
Life in a Medieval Village,
Life in a Medieval City, Daily Life in a Medieval Castle, Marriage and Family in the Middle Ages;
Frances and Joseph Gies
DailyLife in Anglo-Saxon England, Sally Crawford
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