Customer Reviews

Great Issues in American History, Vol. I: From Settlement to Revolution, 1584-1776

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This is going to be short and sweet. The book is excellent for research. It gives you a history of the events that occurred throughout the time period of 1584 - 1775 and then includes primary documents. There are many different perspectives from one document to another. If you're interested in history or are doing research on a particular subject in this era, I would recommend this book to you.

This book is important, but dry - and I did my best, ( I find my "best" keeps changing so who knows for later) but I couldn't wade through it right now with any degree of mental stimulation from the authors which was too bad, too as it dealt with the original documents and words of the participants at the time (which may have been part of problem). It reminds me of why I didn't like history when I was in school, and is the reason I'm going back now - at this point in time - to round out what I missed out of boredom then (and immaturity) to try to ferret out some better historians with a more flavorful flair for turning their writing talents loose. Nonetheless, I clearly see it's value; I know it is worthy of any serious historian, and the fault is my own. I encourage anyone who has thought about going back and refreshing American History to jump off and go for it. It's amazing.

There was one chapter (pg 186) that caught my attention - "Adam Smith, conclusion of the mercantile system". This man offered a no-nonsense approach to addressing the existing disparities in the "import/export" and therefore the "supply/demand" while establishing a vigorous American economy free from British interference. I hadn't read too much about him before. He was free with his thoughts about Britain "pretending" to make economic sense with their agendas, while in practice the opposite effect occurred, that of stifling the Colonists, and negating their own internal efforts to establish strong trade that benefited them not only as individual craftsmen, but as a nation aggregate. He could see an "imbalance" of trade and he could see the reason why: the colonists themselves were being used as cheap labor to produce for exportation, while "tools of the trade" that would allow expansion of talents were all but impossible to import, to effectively suppress competition from the colonists - as they would gain greater strength and skills from such purchases by manufacturers that had already fine-tuned some of the processes, thereby becoming a strong, independent nation and thereby also an inherent threat to the Motherland.

It's a very good book for scholars, but I didn't have the strength or patience at this point to digest all of it - although I probably will go back later and "take it on."