Reviews
Instructors of courses in colonial America should consider this thorough textbook. Hoffer does a remarkable job.
Life in the New World was as difficult and varied as one can imagine. Peter Charles Hoffer presents a comprehensive picture of that life from many diverse perspectives in his book. He takes us beyond the usual US history course treatment of the topic of colonial America, and allows us to see it in a realistic setting. This is a valuable book for historians of any specialty.
A breathtaking triumph, and the more astonishing because 'vast early America' has metastasized in recent years beyond coherent comprehension. Peter Hoffer has somehow managed to master it all, providing shrewd analyses intermixed with storytelling. He shows balanced judgment as well as mordant irony, his writing full of eloquence and wit. The third edition of The Brave New World is the indispensable text of early American studies for our time.
Book Details
Preface
PART I: WORLDS IN MOTION
1. The First Americans
2. Europe in the Age of Discovery, 1400–1500
3. The Spanish Century, 1492 – 1588
4. Rivals for the Northland: England and France in America
5. The
Preface
PART I: WORLDS IN MOTION
1. The First Americans
2. Europe in the Age of Discovery, 1400–1500
3. The Spanish Century, 1492 – 1588
4. Rivals for the Northland: England and France in America
5. The Planter Colonies
6. A New England
7. The Middle Colonies
8. The Critical Years, 1675–1700
PART II: FROM PROVINCES OF EMPIRE TO A NEW NATION
9. The Empires Reinvented, 1660–1763
10. Provincial People and Places in the Eighteenth Century
11. Common Pastimes and Elite Pursuits
12. Mercantilism and Markets
13. The Last War and the Lost Peace, 1754–1763
14. A Nation in the Womb of Time, 1764–1775
15. Independence, War, and Republicanism, 1776–1783
Epilogue: The Way Ahead
Bibliographic Essay
Index