Author Description
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 Forced 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.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This work investigates the complex, reciprocal relationship between seventeenth-century English migrants and their mother country during the formative years of American colonization. Malcolm Gaskill, a historian specializing in early modern history, utilizes a vast array of primary source material to argue that the development of the American colonies was not an isolated event, but a transatlantic process that fundamentally reshaped the identities and political consciousness of both the settlers and those who remained in England.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Analysis of the motivations and experiences of diverse migrant groups including merchants, missionaries, and those fleeing poverty.
- Examination of the economic and political dependencies between colonial plantations and the English monarchy.
- Synthesis of primary source documents such as personal letters, journals, official reports, and contemporary pamphlets.
Scope Limits
- The text focuses primarily on the seventeenth century and does not provide an exhaustive history of the later revolutionary period.
- The narrative centers on the English-American connection and does not provide a comprehensive history of all European colonial powers in the region.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Historians and scholars frequently commend this work for its meticulous use of primary source material to bridge the gap between colonial and domestic English history. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which provides a comprehensive look at the social and political pressures defining the seventeenth-century Atlantic world.
Page Count:
480
Publication Date:
2014-01-01
Publisher:
Oup Oxford
ISBN-10:
0191653829
ISBN-13:
9780191653827
History
Migration Studies
British History
Colonial History
American History