****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
The problem with this book is that it tries to be two books in one. Viewed by itself, it is a thoughtful, interesting and modern analysis of the settling of the entire continent of North America and the impact colonists had on native populations and the environment. But it is also the first volume of the new "Penguin History of the United States" series and is therefore ostensibly supposed to provide readers of that series the colonial history of the United States up to the American Revolution. Unfortunately, the goals of these two books are not really compatible; in trying to write both books, Taylor has failed to write either of them as well as he could have. He acknowledges the problem in his introduction, writing that his goal of providing a North American perspective "... is somewhat at odds with the mandate for this volume, as the first in a series meant to cover the history of the United States down to the present."I think Taylor's conception of colonial history is refreshing, interesting, and informative. I also think he gives well-deserved attention to groups of people and topics that traditional books on the subject have ignored, especially Native Americans and African-Americans and the impact of human settlements on the environment. Taken by itself, I think his book is very good and deserves the positive comments and reviews it has gotten (both in the press and in Amazon reviews). In fact, if it was intended as a stand-alone book about the colonization process itself and its impact on the peoples and environments of North America, I would have given it 4 stars after subtracting 1 star for extraneous historical material (in chapters 13, 15, and 18) that really doesn't fit Taylor's colonization paradigm.However, I feel it important to also evaluate "American Colonies" as the first volume of the new "Penguin History of the United States". Since Penguin's website indicates that the second volume will focus on the years 1763 to 1848, it is clear that readers will not be getting more details about colonial U.S. history prior to 1763. Viewed in this context, I feel that Taylor has left out too much detail from traditional U.S. colonial history in order to give space to the non-traditional topics he has covered. One obvious example is the fact that Taylor only gives the settlement of Plymouth by the Mayflower 1 paragraph. Additionally, Taylor says very little about the founding of the Connecticut and Rhode Island colonies. Another problem with the book when viewed as a first volume of a U.S. history series is that much of the material is just not that relevant. While Taylor's accounts of the colonizations of Mexico, the Southwest, Alaska, and Hawaii are interesting and do belong in a study of North American colonization, they don't really have much bearing on U.S. history. Taylor's attempt to write two books in one is what lead to these problems and my 3 star rating.What I'm trying to say here is that a reader who wanted to learn U.S. History from the Penguin series without having to read other books would not get an adequate overview of the colonial history of the United States. While Taylor has written a good book, he has not fulfilled his obligations to readers of the Penguin series who will expect full coverage of all key events in U.S. history. In fairness to Penguin, I should point out that the new Oxford History of the United States does not cover colonial history at all and has other gaps such as the critical years between the ratification of the Constitution in 1789 and 1815.Postscript: Oxford is adding a new volume by famous historian Gordon S. Wood that covers 1789 - 1815, filling in the gap I had mentioned. It will be available in October, 2009.
