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fictionjunky's review against another edition
5.0
A captivating view into early America. This book was particularly helpful in reporting personality sketches of long-dead ancestors, as well!
margaretefg's review against another edition
4.0
Bailyn paints vivid pictures of the barbarous years of early British settlement in North America, including very specific images of "Ivar the Finn, that miscreant" or Anne Hutchinson at her trial, or Quakers, sowing disorder and anarchy wherever they turn up. From ship registers to court records to letters and diaries, he shows us how these settlers (and their backers in Europe) thought, what they did and how they justified it. While the book makes a clear argument, it also tells great stories.
jensteerswell's review against another edition
4.0
Americans tell themselves some cutesy origin stories: the pilgrims arrive at Plymouth Rock in their funny hats, Squanto and Pocahontas help them, they celebrate Thanksgiving, and everybody lives happily ever after. The one dark note, if they even know about it, is the mysterious disappearance of Roanoke Colony. But this is the true story of what happened, and it's mostly a lot of people dying either trying to defend their homeland or trying to scratch out a living in a hostile environment. So many people dying. At various points and in various places, 80-90% of the population on both sides dies within 10 years of the arrival of the settlers.
lovegriefandgender's review against another edition
3.0
I expected more concern with the Native American peoples, fascinating though the luggage restrictions of English immigrant women may be. I also think that —and this may seem nitpicky— describing black people as "blacks" was outdated language long before Bailyn wrote this and am confused that no editor picked-up on it.
bibliophiliac's review against another edition
5.0
This book is a sweeping history of the early colonization of the "New World", beginning with glimpses of the lives of the myriad tribes of Native Americans, and continuing through the stories of not just the Pilgrims, but dozens of ethnic and religious groups who arrived on the American continent seeking a better or different life. It is clear that many arrived expecting Paradise only to find themselves thrust into often violent conflict, from public brawls to religious executions and genocidal campaigns aimed at the annihilation of natives. Because of this hostile environment in the mid 17th century, many settlers turned around and headed back for Europe to escape the bloody terror and misery. This period in American history is not one I knew a great deal about, even as a history major; this book explores the chaotic decades from the establishment of the English settlers' first permanent colony in the Americas, Jamestown, in 1607 up to the violent conflict that essentially routed the Native Americans from New England, King Philip’s War, in 1675-76. Professor Bailyn’s account provided a fresh, but unvarnished, account of how a patchwork of different settlers, both wealthy and poor, sought to recreate an idealized version of their former lives in this "barbarous environment” in the Chesapeake Bay region, the middle-Atlantic region, and New England.
qaphsiel's review against another edition
5.0
If you want to immerse yourself in the early colonial period of eastern North America, there is no better place to start than Bernard Bailyn's The Barbarous Years: The Peopling of British North America. As the title suggests it covers the conflicts of the era, but not only the armed conflicts. In the heady mix and times of the early colonial period conflict occurred in every arena - religious, political, economic, and cultural - and between nearly every identifiable group. Framing the conflict as European vs Native American or English vs Dutch oversimplifies to the point of uselessness.
You can read more of this review at my blog: Review of “The Barbarous Years” by Bernard Bailyn.
You can read more of this review at my blog: Review of “The Barbarous Years” by Bernard Bailyn.
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