Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution [Paperback]

Bernard Bailyn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 1988 | ISBN-10: 0394757785 | ISBN-13: 978-0394757780

The winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in History is reinterpreted by the foremost colonial historian of American history, using the perspective of migration as an organizing principle. 32 photos, 19 maps.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bailyn's superbly documented history advances our knowledge of the migration of English and Scottish laborers and farmers from their native soil to wilderness colonial America. Researching this study for 10 years, Bailyn, a Pulitzer and Bancroft prize-winner for Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, with this new book is now well advanced into his Peopling of America series. This indefatigable historian is the first to achieve a full-scale follow-through on a remarkable London Register naming every person known to have left Britain for North America between December 1773 and March 1776. From town records, letters and contemporary newspapers, Bailyn describes dangerous ship-passages and arrivals of thousands of Scots, Yorkshiremen and Londoners in Nova Scotia, Carolina, Georgia, Florida and even the Gulf-Delta area. Focusing on rich British-Scots entrepreneurs, he describes one of the great land-grabs of historyand more than incidentally shows why the "indentured servant" aspect of this feverish migration petered out, to be replaced by black slavery. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

The "key" to this work is Bailyn's identification of dual migration and settlement patternsone for families and another for single men and indentured servants. Relying on a British emigration register, 1773-76, and myriad "ancillary sources," Bailyn's is a masterful treatment of the "human meaning" of the transatlantic migration. By turns, he employs descriptive exposition, quantification, structural analysis, narrative accounts of many individuals and families, and graphic representations (including a novel portfolio of "portraits and scenes" of runaway servants, based on newspaper accounts). Part of a multivolume study that began with The Peopling of British North America: an introduction ( LJ 8/86), this is very highly recommended for most libraries. Roy H. Tryon, Delaware State Archives, Dover
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 720 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (April 12, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394757785
• ISBN-13: 978-0394757780
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.5 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #172,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Long, Tedious, but Masterful None-the-less, May 4, 2005

By 

S. Pactor "reader" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution (Paperback)

This book was a challenge to read. The first two hundred and fifty pages are as dull as any social science you're likely to read and the last hundred and fifty pages lack anything like a conclusion or summary chapter. None the less, you have to give credit where credit is due and acknowledge the majesty of this work.

Bailyn, in exhausting detail, uses records maintained by the British crown between 1774-1776 to document the who, what, where and why's of British migration to the colonies in the years immedietaely proceeding the revolution.

His main thesis can be summarized by stating that there were, in fact, two parallel migrations. The first was of unattached, single men from the area around London to the middle states of Maryland and North Carolina. The second migration was of families from the british midlands and Scotland. These migrants used Pennsylvennia and New York as a jumping off point for their population of the back country.

Baiyln backs up the thesis with tons of charts, graphs and maps. This was a much heavier read then I expected.

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A bit large but worth it over all, July 11, 2000

By 

Ryan Pagenkopf (Irving, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution (Paperback)

I studied this book in high school as part of my background research into colonialism and "American" life before the revolution. I have always been fond of history and wars so I possess a great deal more motivation to read a book of such immense proportions. The size is intimidating and unfortunately seems to discourage continued research from the layman reader because of the detail into which it ventures, which is the only reason I marked it down one star. On the whole, though, I found it to be an enjoyable experience for use in finding out key facets of history that typically are not focused on. Obviously, as a high schooler and even after I graduated I have not come close to reading all of the almost-700 pages of material. Nonetheless, what I have read offered a great insight into the lives of the time. Historians today dehumanize our heritage into simple fact and fiction, myth and reality while playing out the major occurences of the past. Voyagers to the West instead focuses on people as they struggle through trial and tribulation to acheive a goal that is never deemed to be necessarily "American," but is still something special as anyone who has ever desired something can relate to. This book goes into great detail, possibly too much for the common, semi-interested reader, to explain and convey that history is built around multitudes of "the little people" who forged ahead and established a precedence through their actions that altered perceptions and lives. It tells the true battles of the Revolution. Not battles situated around guns and generals, but rathr around individuals who had to struggle with more prominent enemies, themselves. It is a wonderful and I say necessary element of history to look at. It might be more comforting if the book was a bit smaller as the reader may feel compelled to move on from lengthy passages; otherwise, the book is more than worth it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good genealogical research tool, January 20, 2011

By 

Donn R. Dufford - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution (Paperback)

Voyagers is an excellent resource for historians and genealogists interested in what brought people to America and kept them here. Social trends in immigrant countries, practices here. It's especially helpful for those of us looking for information about immigration in the early 1700s (1700-1740). A must for your bookshelf. While the bound version is more expensive, it is easier to layout on a copier or scanner to transfer info to your computer.