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Liked It “Fascinating look at four major groups of English immigrants in four regions of this country: the Puritans in New England, the Quakers in Pennsylvania/Delaware, the Cavaliers in Virginia, and the Border people in the "back country" (North & South Carolina, Western Virginia, etc.) Fischer explores...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Fascinating look at four major groups of English immigrants in four regions of this country: the Puritans in New England, the Quakers in Pennsylvania/Delaware, the Cavaliers in Virginia, and the Border people in the "back country" (North & South Carolina, Western Virginia, etc.) Fischer explores the folkways of the four cultures over the 1st two centirues and persuasively shows their continuing impact on the U.S. today. ~Lee B.”
Michelle T wrote this review Thursday, October 15 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“"Albion’s Seed" by David Hackett Fischer is a terrific history of the various groups of British people who settled in the colonies that later became the United States. Fischer writes clearly, interestingly and with a balance between three elements of historical analysis: blending the stories of the famous with those of the obscure and with a use of statistics that is unexpectedly lively—a feat in itself. (Too many historians see these three elements as being in competition and use them singly or with overemphasis on one of them over the others.)
Miles F wrote this review Tuesday, July 28 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Fischer’s thesis is this: each colony that made up British America was settled by people who tended to come from particular regions of Britain. For example, the characteristically “r” dropping New Englanders from whom I myself spring, tended to come from the counties in the eastern part of England where, to this day, people tend to drop their “r”s in much the same way. This is not to say that there were not exceptions to this narrow origin. The area around Rowley, Massachusetts, was settled by people whose origins in England were a bit further north from those of the people who tended to settle the rest of Massachusetts. Indeed, while the majority of those who initially settled the colony were either clergymen, craftsmen, farmers, or fishermen according to their trades in eastern England, the people who settled in Rowley had been millers and, unsurprisingly, given that fact, built the first mills in New England.
My own ancestry reflects further exceptions: one of my ancestors was from southeastern England, a little further south of the majority of Massachusetts Bay colonists, and another direct ancestor came from a suburb of London. However, religion, more than geography, united the colonists of Massachusetts. Most of them were Puritans, and even the settlers of Rowley had been members of a Puritan church in a part of England where Puritans had been less common than in the part of East Anglia where most of the New England colonists came from. Similarly, my own ancestors, though not from the expected region of England, show up in colonial records as members in good standing of the Congregational church that developed out of the Puritan rule. (Although one of my second generation New England ancestors was punished for “consorting with Baptists.”)
Similarly, each other colony’s history is that of people whose majority tended to come from certain counties in Britain, certain classes of the social order, and certain religions. Virginia, where I now dwell, was settled by people from the southwestern counties of England, both gentlemen (or cavaliers, as they were called) and, eventually, the less than desirable class, including pickpockets and prostitutes. Most of the gentlemen were second sons who did not expect to inherit anything from their wealthy fathers who were entitled and expected under British law to leave their estates entirety to their eldest sons. Nominally adherents of the Church of England (nowadays called Episcopal in the United States), the settlers of Virginia tended to be far less religious than the colonists in Massachusetts who arrived with the intention of establishing a spiritual utopia. However, to all of these people, the New World promised great danger but also a chance of success and relative liberty that was almost impossible back in England.
In each colony, different groups of people arrived in successive waves, each with a different point of arrival in terms both of geography and calendar date. The older settlers often looked down on the newcomers but to varying degrees, and newcomers who had to pass through the cities and towns of earlier settlers tended to continue on to new territories that were as yet less settled. So it was that the last group of settlers to arrive before the American Revolution—the people from northern England, southern Scotland, and northern Ireland, whom Fischer calls “Borderers” because they came from border areas within the British Isles—were regarded as very low indeed by the established American colonists. These newcomers pushed west to the frontiers of several states, including Pennsylvania, where they later participated in the Whiskey Rebellion that President George Washington personally put down at the head of the nation’s newly minted professional army. Of course, Washington had a personal bone to pick with Borderers because they often squatted on lands that were already legally claimed by wealthy landowners including Washington himself.
This is a very long book. It might please most American readers to read those chapters that deal with their own ancestors, if they are of English or Scots ancestry, or with the region where they happen to live if they are Easterners. But other readers might enjoy this book, too, if they are interested enough in the nitty-gritty of American history to enjoy a well written account of how colonial America was settled by different groups with different backgrounds and intentions, and how these differences determined the various characters of the colonies and perhaps contributed to the diversity of temperament and ethos enjoyed today by the different states that these colonies became.”
“I started this book for fun as an antidote to a hair-raising class in Microbiology. It worked! Albion's Seed is fascinating!”
helenjoy wrote this review Tuesday, July 14 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“David Hackett Fischer is a Brandeis University professor of history and author of several prize-winning or short-listed books, including Paul Revere’s Ride, The Great Wave and Washington’s Crossing. Fischer’s work seems to be universally well-regarded. The book that put Prof. Fischer on the map is Albion’s Seed, which was published 20 years ago. While many eminent historians have mastered “what, when & where”, Fischer’s signature accomplishment has been to master “why”. He is a capable writer who stays on the workman-like side of scholarly prose, so there’s no need to keep a dictionary at the ready. His forte is deconstructing history in nicely sequenced, clinical detail. He does this to terrifying effect in The Great Wave and to a highly illuminating degree in Albion’s Seed, a book that masterfully answers the most fundamental questions on the origins of American culture. Albion’s Seed is as epic as it is well-researched. Fischer’s points are supported with boatloads of footnotes, some of which are nearly page-sized tables. He packed Albion’s Seed with the biggest truths and the most priceless tidbits. If you think that words like cracker or hoosier were born in the American vernacular, or that Andrew Jackson embodies classically American qualities, then this book should be on your bookshelf. (Hard cover version recommended for durability).”
DiePittsburghDie wrote this review Sunday, March 29 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No0 of 1 members found this review helpful“Part of my lifelong love of history”
Stan P wrote this review Tuesday, May 6 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Ok -- I geek out on this stuff, but it is facinating how and where many of our early "American" ways of life and traditions came from. This wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, and it isn't really a page turner, but if you have any interest in early american history or geneology, you will love it. ”
Sally M wrote this review Friday, February 8 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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