itle: The Forgotten History of AmericaAuthor: Cormac O'Brien
Genre: Nonfiction
Synopsis: Little-known conflicts of lasting importance from the earliest colonists to the eve of the revolution.
My Thoughts
I had been looking to read something about pre-revolutionary America and as I was looking around my own library, lo-and-behold, I had this book just waiting on the shelf from a time when I bought it on clearance and then forgot about it completely. Most of the pre-revolutionary war history books are about Jamestown or Roanoke, which while super interesting, don't always provide a full picture of the Americas at the time. This book starts with the earliest recorded colonists, the Spanish, highlighting their encounters with native people and the founding of St. Augustine. I have officially added St. Augustine, Florida to my list of places to visit as the oldest continuously existing colonial city in the United States.
This book also includes many battles that are not often included in American History, mostly between the colonists and the native people. I am not personally one for battle scenes, even in movies I find them boring and just want to get to the outcome, but these provide important context for the relationships between the many different groups fighting for land in the Americas at the time.
For most of the book, I felt that the author did well at staying neutral about what was happening at the time favoring neither the colonists or the native people, simply presenting events as they are recorded to have happened. There was one statement he made about the irony of European colonies all fighting one another for land that was stolen from the native people that I really loved, but naturally, after looking through it several times while writing this I could not find the exact quote.
There are some really excellent portraits, woodcuts, and engravings that illustrate the book and keep it from feeling totally overwhelming. I especially love the cover.
Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!
To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above
I had been looking to read something about pre-revolutionary America and as I was looking around my own library, lo-and-behold, I had this book just waiting on the shelf from a time when I bought it on clearance and then forgot about it completely. Most of the pre-revolutionary war history books are about Jamestown or Roanoke, which while super interesting, don't always provide a full picture of the Americas at the time. This book starts with the earliest recorded colonists, the Spanish, highlighting their encounters with native people and the founding of St. Augustine. I have officially added St. Augustine, Florida to my list of places to visit as the oldest continuously existing colonial city in the United States.
This book also includes many battles that are not often included in American History, mostly between the colonists and the native people. I am not personally one for battle scenes, even in movies I find them boring and just want to get to the outcome, but these provide important context for the relationships between the many different groups fighting for land in the Americas at the time.
For most of the book, I felt that the author did well at staying neutral about what was happening at the time favoring neither the colonists or the native people, simply presenting events as they are recorded to have happened. There was one statement he made about the irony of European colonies all fighting one another for land that was stolen from the native people that I really loved, but naturally, after looking through it several times while writing this I could not find the exact quote.
There are some really excellent portraits, woodcuts, and engravings that illustrate the book and keep it from feeling totally overwhelming. I especially love the cover.
Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!
To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above
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