This collection of essays investigates how the unique environmental and social pressures of the Southern colonies forced diverse migrant populations to adapt their cultural practices and form new social structures. The volume is edited and contributed to by T. H. Breen, a distinguished historian of early American society, alongside a cohort of American and English scholars. By analyzing the interactions between African and European migrants, the authors argue that these groups did not merely replicate their home cultures but instead engaged in a process of cultural interdependency to survive and thrive in the New World.

Historians and students of early American history frequently cite this collection as a foundational text for understanding the complexities of colonial social development. Experts highlight the academic rigor of the essays, noting that the work remains a standard reference for those studying the intersection of race, environment, and social formation in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.