Review
Nova Scotia boasts of nearly four centuries of European settlement. Its early history is rich in conflict between French and English, and then of families split by the American Revolution. Planters from New England, Loyalists (black as well as white), explorers and rogues, sailors and shipbuilders, merchants and innkeepers, politicians and preachers, magnates and mothers. mary Byers and Margaret McBurney tell the stories of these people in a lively text illustrated by pictures from the past and present. During several years of research they ave scoured provincial and municipal archives, sifted through newspaper files, interviewed archivists, scholars, and local historians. Chris Reardon has photographed a hundred historic buildings mentioned in the text, illuminating the architectural development of the province. The authors have traced the links between home, culture, and history. Atlantic hearth: Early Homes and Families of Nova Scotia takes us through periods of settlement, slavery, war, scandal, and prosperity, yet never loses sight of home and hearth. -- Midwest Book Review
