A New World [Paperback]

Arthur Quinn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1995

Historian Quinn brilliantly captures a nation in the making with this ambitious and honest account of colonial America. He challenges conventional historical narrative and allows readers to experience America's tumultuous beginnings with an unparalleled sense of immediacy and drama. A New World intrigues, surprises, and informs in a way that is both rare and rewarding.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Writing off the top of the best historical scholarship of the past 50 years, Quinn (rhetoric, Univ. of California, Berkeley) tells the story of John Smith, William Penn, Samuel de Champlain, John Winthrop, William Bradford, and others in lavish detail and epic sweep. When his writing is good, as in his depiction of the Jesuit fathers in the cruel climes of frigid Canada, his narrative is engrossing. Elsewhere, as in his portrayal of Puritan John Winthrop, Quinn overwrites, piling phrase upon phrase in a gorgeous exercise of pleonasm. Although Quinn's narratives are driven by the particular vision of 17th-and 18th-century white men, his stories are leavened by depictions of the annihilation of the Pequots, the tragic fall of Huronia, and the travails of the Acadians. In contrast to the usual drab historical study, this is a crazy quilt of a book, full of vivid colors and dramatic patterns, sure to please a general audience.
David B. Mattern, Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Echoing Virgil's elevated treatment of his country's founding ("I write of peoples and a struggle"), Quinn depicts colonizers and Indians up to Wolfe's and Montcalm's deaths in 1759, and the well-paced result defies pigeonholing. It is partly adventure tale, partly dramatic tragedy, and occasionally a tease (Quinn once quotes Dietrich Knickerbocker's satirical profile of New Amsterdam's Peter Stuyvesant--without fessing up that Dietrich was Washington Irving's pen name for spoofing popular history). Predominantly, though, Quinn engages rather than tricks, and his work is an uncommonly interesting sort of history in its own manner. Chiefly, he lets the principals speak through their memoirs: the Pilgrim chapter rests on founder William Bradford's gloomy reminiscences about the seeming religious failings of his colony; and the Jesuit missionaries relate their incredible travails in proselytizing the Hurons. Indeed, the power of religious motivation in colonization, as Quinn examines the attempted establishment of cities of God, jostles for attention with dramas of avarice and viciousness, making an all too human stew of characters with vaulting imaginations contesting for continental control; Quinn's effort will please a variety of tastes. Gilbert Taylor --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (October 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425149560
• ISBN-13: 978-0425149560
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #473,213 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Story Telling, November 29, 2000

By 

Richard La Fianza (San Bernardino) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A New World (Paperback)

Arthur Quinn loves America and American History. No, he doesn't say this anywhere in his book, "A New World", but his passion is obvious to anyone who reads this book. The pages are filled with his excitement which will draw in almost any reader, even those who normally do not like history. Better still, for those of us who do enjoy history, Quinn details portions of American History rarely covered in school or in other books.

The two things I liked best about A New World was Quinn's awareness of the times and his details about its people. Usually when we study or read about American History, it is in a void. Quinn is the first writer I have read who talks about how Machavilli influenced John Smith. John Smith, always a boring figure of the past, now seems like a wild adventurer to me.

Quinn also talks about Indian savagery. I never really appreciated why the Colonists had such fears or anger towards them. Our politically correct schools always teach us how Colonists took our land from others. I have never in school how some Indians tortured soliders so much before a battle, that the European troops gave up out of fear. Or how these same Indians would take a stick and slowly work it up the bone of a person from his hand to his shoulder. Not counting the constant war between some Indian Tribes and the colonist, these stories helped me understand the attitudes of those times much better.

After Barbara Tuchman's, The Guns of August, this is probably the best history work I have read. I look forward to reading more from Mr. Quinn. If you haven't read him yet, this book is a very good place to start.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars See the world as they did, May 28, 2000

By 

William Adair - See all my reviews

This review is from: A New World (Paperback)

Arthur Quinn's wonderful work, "A New World," puts you into the shoes, and more importantly, the heads, of the movers and shakers of the colonial world. From a modern perspective, the behavior of our colonial forebears is often perplexing and sometimes downright criminal. Why did the Plymouth Pilgrims see the decimation of the Pawtuxet as Divine Providence, instead of a horrific tragedy? Why did French and English colonists treat the natives so differently? Quinn's treatment of these and other issues are unparalleled. Instead of providing a detailed chronology of events, Quinn emphasizes sociological context and individual perspective. Plenty of good history books can tell you what happened; "A New World" explains why. This can be a rough ride (Quinn is no apologist), but like the best roller coasters, "A New World" is well worth the trip.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History as Epic; Not Intended to Substitute for Textbook, May 18, 2004

By 

Scott Schiefelbein (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A New World (Paperback)

Arthur Quinn's "A New World" is a must-read for any student of early American history and a should-read for fans of entertaining tales.

While undeniably a history, Quinn's effort is sure to disappoint anyone who is looking for a comprehensive treatment of colonial America, anything approaching dates, figures, and similar hard data. Quinn endeavors to tell a story rather than offer a definitive analysis. This is the kind of history that is best savored in a comfortable armchair with your favorite beverage, not at a desk with a notepad.

Certain passages sweep the reader away -- the majestic falls near Quebec, the horrific torture of a mighty Indian warrior, the crotchety character of the Acadians, and on and on . . . Quinn brings this murky period of American history to life in a unique fashion that can only serve to heighten the reader's interest in learning more.

Like anyone who attempts to tell a gripping tale, Quinn abandons historical analysis in favor of grand storytelling. This is a different type of history. However, by bringing the era to life and giving the reader characters and events to care about, Quinn can do more to engender a deep desire to learn more about colonial America than dry, hyper-accurate historical treatments of the era that might provide more pure "data" than Quinn.

Check this book out -- you'll be glad you did.