05 August 2010

Great Reads - Alan Taylor's American Colonies

I didn't realize what I was getting when I picked up Alan Taylor's American Colonies. As a history buff, with a title like that, my purchase was a no brainer, but what I wasn't expecting was his truly unique approach. If you're looking for a book about the colonies or the birth of a nation, look elsewhere. Taylor looks at the whole of the North American continent interweaving the colonial activities of the British, the French, and the Spanish so that the reader gets a sense of the three pronged approach that led to the settlement of North American by Europe. We learn about all of this stuff in school -- the American Revolution, French fur traders in the Northwest Territory, and the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in Mexico -- but most are unable to relate these events to each other.....Taylor not only does this, he does it very well. Think you know your American history? Give American Colonies a read, a guarantee you'll learn something new.

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