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“"During the first two centuries of American history, every President except two was descended from one or more of the four hearth cultures of Anglo-America" and "Before the year 1865, every American President but one came from a single cultural stock" (p.839). What were these all-important hearth cultures, or "four folkways" as defined by David Fischer? The first wave was the Puritans from East Anglia to Massachusetts between 1629 to 1640. The came escaping the Eleven Years Tyranny under Charles I. The second wave arrived for almost opposite reasons: Royalist Cavaliers escaping the English Civil War under Oliver Cromwell between 1642 and 1675. They primarily fled from South England to Virginia. The third wave were Quakers fleeing the English North Midlands to the Delaware Valley during the English Test Act between 1675 to 1725. The fourth and final wave were the Scotch-Irish Borderland folk which fled to the Appalachian backcoutry during Queen Anne's War between 1717 to 1775. These four major migrations brought with them a similar religious and cultural heritage from their respective English regions from which they developed. Fischer's primary thesis is that that these cultural and religious folkway roots still influence modern American life, and that an understanding of their unique aspects is essential to understanding modern American culture wars and differences. However I would caution readers that Fischer's bias against Calvinist Puritans and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians is fairly obvious at times. Otherwise, this 1,000 page work is fascinating, enlightening and very well-researched. ”
tapbirds wrote this review Friday, December 2, 2011.
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