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.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution (Paperback)
No comments:
Post a Comment