Between Two Worlds - How the English Became Americans

The transatlantic story of how the English settlers of seventeenth century North America became Americans - from the near-calamitous first settlement at Jamestown in 1607 to the drama of the Salem witch trials.

Between Two Worlds is a story teeming with people on the move, making decisions, indulging or resisting their desires and dreams.

In the seventeenth century a quarter of a million men, women, and children left England's shores for America. Some were explorers and merchants, others soldiers and missionaries; many were fugitives from poverty and persecution. All, in their own way, were adventurers, risking their lives and fortunes to make something of themselves overseas. They irrevocably changed the land and indigenous peoples they encountered - and their new world changed them.

But that was only half the story. The plantations established from Maine to the Caribbean needed support at home, especially royal endorsement and money, which made adventurers of English monarchs and investors too. Attitudes to America were crucial, and evolved as the colonies grew in size, prosperity, and self-confidence.

Meanwhile, for those who had crossed the ocean, America forc ed people to rethink the country in which they had been raised, and to which they remained attached after emigration. In tandem with new ideas about the New World, migrants pondered their English mother country's traditions and achievements, its problems and its uncertain future in an age of war and revolution.

Using hundreds of letters, journals, reports, pamphlets and contemporary books, Between Two Worlds recreates this fascinating transatlantic history - one which has often been neglected or misunderstood on both sides of the Atlantic in the centuries since.

Inhaltsverzeichnis:

Preface
Prologue: Worlds Collide
Part I: Planters, 1607-1640
1: Brave Heroic Minds
2: Earth's Only Paradise
3: Each Man Shall Have His Share
4: The Vast and Furious Ocean
5: Full of Wild Beasts and Wild Men
6: A City upon a Hill
7: To Clearer Light and More Liberty
8: In Darkness and the Shadow of Death
Part II: Saints, 1640-1675
9: Calamities of our Brethren
10: Marching Manfully On
11: Devouring Caterpillars and Gnawing Worms
12: A Heap of Troubles and Confusion
13: Have You Better Hearts Than Your Forefathers?
14: Alas! Our Nehemiahs Are Gone
Part III: Warriors, 1675-1692
15: Exquisite Torments and Inhumane Barbarities
16: Juggling Parasites and the Giddy Multitude
17: A Swarm Out of That Hive
18: New England Their Native Land
19: The Little Daughter of New England in America
20: With Devils and Damned Spirits
Epilogue: New Worlds
Index
Preface
Prologue: Worlds Collide
Part I: Planters, 1607- 1640
1: Brave Heroic Minds
2: Earth's Only Paradise
3: Each Man Shall Have His Share
4: The Vast and Furious Ocean
5: Full of Wild Beasts and Wild Men
6: A City upon a Hill
7: To Clearer Light and More Liberty
8: In Darkness and the Shadow of Death
Part II: Saints, 1640-1675
9: Calamities of our Brethren
10: Marching Manfully On
11: Devouring Caterpillars and Gnawing Worms
12: A Heap of Troubles and Confusion
13: Have You Better Hearts Than Your Forefathers?
14: Alas! Our Nehemiahs Are Gone
Part III: Warriors, 1675-1692
15: Exquisite Torments and Inhumane Barbarities
16: Juggling Parasites and the Giddy Multitude
17: A Swarm Out of That Hive
18: New England Their Native Land
19: The Little Daughter of New England in America
20: With Devils and Damned Spirits
Epilogue: New Worlds
Index