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The Atlantic World: A History, 1400-1888

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Douglas Egerton, Alison Games, Jane Landers, Kris Lane, and Donald Wright's "The Atlantic World" manages to achieve the daunting task of cramming nearly five hundred years of the history of four continents into about five hundred pages. The purpose of Atlantic history, as outlined in the Introduction, is the study of the convergence and conflict of numerous African, Caribbean, European, North American, and South American cultures following Christopher Columbus' arrival in the "New World" and the subsequent collapse of many indigenous societies and their displacement by the Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and English. Africans soon appeared as well, forcibly transported from their homeland to prop up the economies of Europe's American holdings. Perhaps the best illustration of this comes from John Gabriel Stedman's "Narrative of a Five Year Expedition" (1796), that depicts Africa and America personified as two women literally supporting a third, identified as Europe, between them.

Now clearly, America (and, by extension, the Americas) has always been a diverse place, as Ronald Takaki has asserted in his book "A Different Mirror," which discusses the detrimental effects the exclusion of other cultures has had on the teaching of history: "What happens, to borrow the words of Adrienne Rich, 'when someone with the authority of a teacher' describes our society - and 'you are not in it'?" In its efforts to highlight all of Africa, Europe, and the Americas as equal contributors to the Atlantic world, I think a book like this is vital in today's educational environment. For one, it does a wonderful job covering West African history of this period, especially given the criticism of Molefi Kete Asante's highly influential "The Afrocentric Idea in Education," which argues that American schools have traditionally presented Africans as merely passive victims of European aggression and exploitation rather than as active agents in their own right. Atlantic history is perhaps an effective answer to these issues of multiculturalism, as it emphasizes not only the history of myriad cultures in the present-day United States, but also necessarily incorporates the story of other nations and other parts of the world as well. In an era where the Atlantic is now only one aspect of a truly global society, Americans need to understand the rest of the world now more than ever, and "The Atlantic World" will certainly help them do that.

The Atlantic World: A History, 1400-1888 is a scholarly educational and reference text covering historical events, commerce, wars, immigration patterns, and much more as pertaining to the Atlantic and its continental boundaries. A handful of black-and-white illustrations grace this detailed, in-depth reference, written by five experts and ideal for novice to advanced history students. From the pre-Columbus roots of an Atlantic system, to Columbus' fateful voyage of discovery, the proliferation of the slave trade, labor/migration/settlement patterns, the American revolution and its repercussions, and much more, The Atlantic World reveals how the Atlantic itself was a vital nexus to unfolding history. Highly recommended for public, college library, and world history shelves.