"Whoever reads these essays--and whether they follow the book from cover
to cover, or dip into chapters at random--will find the rich abundance
and variety of early American scholarship set out before them. Readers
new to the field will grasp a sense of its expansiveness and
possibilities, but seasoned scholars, too, will find here a feast of
insights and possibilities that will engage, provoke, and inspire
them."--from the Foreword, by Christopher Clark
How is American history written? In a penetrating series of review
essays, prize-winning author Alan Taylor provides his own answer to this
question. In the pages of The New Republic, he has regularly
scrutinized the writing of the most interesting historians of early
American history.
Together these reviews provide the general reader a rich and rewarding
introduction to their subjects. The books reviewed span an enormous
range of scholarship, from popular biographies of Founding Fathers, to
investigations of murders of prostitutes to discussions of frontier
technology. Grouped thematically, the essays reveal a historian with an
unrivaled breadth of knowledge and an admirable passion for his subject,
and one who has contributed a continent-wide perspective to colonial
history. As readers steep themselves in world-class scholarship, they
also discover a writer who takes very seriously his role as reader.
