Book Description
Just in time for the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation offers its own comprehensive guide to Virginia's "Historic Triangle." It was in 1607 at Jamestown that John Smith and his fellow Englishmen established the first permanent settlement in North America. It was here that Smith met Pocahontas, that the first representative assembly in the New World convened, and that the first African slaves arrived. Just a few miles down the road is Williamsburg, where men like George Washington, Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Thomas Jefferson conceived a new nation. The third point in the Triangle, also just a few miles away, is Yorktown, where French and American troops under Washington's command forced the British surrender and won the nation's independence. If you are among the millions who will visit in 2007 and beyond, this lively and lavishly illustrated guide will tell you everything you need to know about the places where America was born, along with all the practical information you'll need to make the most of your trip.
Customer Reviews:
Don't leave home without it!.......2007-05-09
This is the most wonderful Historic Triangle guide I've ever seen. I just returned from a 5 day stay in that area and this book told me what I needed to know to enjoy 100% of the areas I was interested in. My focus was not on shopping or eating as much as the actual history of the triangle area and I got what I needed to set out an itinerary that satisfied me totally and then some. The only thing that I wasn't able to plan ahead for was seeing the Queen of England twice in Williamsburg! You can feel comfortable in using this guide and gaining the level of historical involvement that you desire.
useful and entertaining.......2007-03-20
This book is a wonderful resource, not only for visitors but also for those of us who live in the area. I've been in Williamsburg and James City for more than 15 years, but even I am discovering all sorts of places to go and things to do here. And the sections on the history of the area are tremendous fun to read.
Book Description
For anyone who has dreamed of living in a Colonial-style home, this showcase of Colonial Williamsburg standouts is an irresistible wish book. And for the home design do-it-yourselfer, it is even more than that. Domestic design and construction expert and award-winning historic preservation writer Hugh Howard provides a tour of favorite Colonial Williamsburg restorations that will fast become a primary resource of ideas and no-nonsense information.
This magnificent treasury presents each house in beautiful new color photographs and an easy-to-read floor plan, revealing all the characteristic architectural details that define the Williamsburg style. Relating the stories of the restoration projects that gave these structures new life, this book covers large and elegant dream houses along with equally charming smaller houses, including those that are open to visitors as well as rarely shown private examples. Colonial Houses will have enormous appeal for the 800,000 guests who flock to Colonial Williamsburg each year, and for all those who simply love its aesthetic.
Customer Reviews:
Recommended book.......2007-03-20
This book gave alot of interesting information of the colonial houses in Williamsburg. The pictures compared with stories are werry enlightening. A good book to read for all who are interested in traditional american architecture.
Amazon.com
Gordon S. Wood--winner of the Pulitzer Prize and professor of American history at Brown University--had no idea what he was getting into when he began this 653-page book. Innocently, he wanted to write a "monographic analysis of constitution-making in the Revolutionary era." Little did he know he would discover an intellectual world where a complete transformation of political thought was occurring, one that would create "a distinctly American system of politics." As Wood explains, "Beneath the variety and idiosyncrasies of American opinion there emerged a general pattern of beliefs about the social process--a set of common assumptions about history, society, and politics that connected and made significant seemingly discrete and unrelated ideas. Really for the first time I began to glimpse what late eighteenth-century Americans meant when they talked about living in an enlightened age." This original study of the American political system is a strong contribution to the scholarly studies of the events surrounding the nation's independence.
Book Description
One of the half dozen most important books ever written about the American Revolution.
New York Times Book Review
During the nearly two decades since its publication, this book has set the pace, furnished benchmarks, and afforded targets for many subsequent studies. If ever a work of history merited the appellation 'modern classic,' this is surely one.
William and Mary Quarterly
[A] brilliant and sweeping interpretation of political culture in the Revolutionary generation.
New England QuarterlyThis is an admirable, thoughtful, and penetrating study of one of the most important chapters in American history.
Wesley Frank Craven
Customer Reviews:
"a true, enduring classic".......2006-08-10
Gordon S. Wood is one of the deans of the so-called "intellectual historians" of the Revolutionary era. I just finished reading this book for the third time in the last 15 years, and I am struck by the sweeping nature of it. Wood's thesis is essentially that Americans' thinking about government and politics underwent a remarkable change in the 11 years between the writing of the Declaration of Independence and the framing of the Constitution. In short, through a series of piecemeal changes during this brief period, Americans largely put together a new mode of political thinking. The key to Wood's argument seems to be his discussion of the changes that occurred in the locus of sovereignty, and the separation of political from social authority. "The people" play the key role here. They went from traditionally being "embodied" in one branch of the gov't (the House of Commons in England, for example), to being the source of all governmental authority. This change brought with it changes in the understanding of representation and of separation of powers, and made possible Americans' unique concept of federalism, and the development of an "American science of politics". Wood uses a dazzling array of sources to support his arguments, and in doing so, shows how many hands and brains were involved in this work. The book is long and the general reader may find it a bit difficult, but anyone interested in the development of American political thought cannot neglect it.
Truly Great Book.......2006-06-20
I agree with the observations of all of your other reviewers, though I read this book in graduate school and didn't have trouble staying awake. I think R. Albin of Michigan comes closest to the gist of Wood's central thesis, but I would like to elaborate. The Founding Fathers were steeped in 18th century hierarchical society and resented the inherited privilege of Europe's aristocracy because they believed themselves to be the equal of the gentlemen who ruled England. A hallmark of such a society was a requirement that the elite assume the reins of government and exercise power for the benefit of everyone in society. They were required to act "Virtuously" in 18th century parlance. They did not really intend to change this hierarchy with the Revolution and they fully expected that the common men they mobilized as their ground forces would govern the country virtuously. The common man certainly being capable of governing his own affairs, Adams, Madison and the others found that the rustics who controlled the state legislatures during the Revolution and after had no inclination to govern for the larger society. They pursued their own interests and gave little thought to the greater issues at hand, such as the need for organizing a national government and integrating the economy. Because of that sour experience with "direct" democracy, the Founders created a constitution, based on what they saw as the structure of "checks and balances" implicit in the English constitution, that they hoped would restrain the common man and his lack of virtue. Wood's book is the history of their transition through, and adaptation of, highly sophisticated political theories to arrive at that result. Because of their superior understanding of politics and how to control the forces they unleashed, the US passed through its revolutionary era without the full-blown civil war that plagued both the French and Russian Revolutions.
Amazing book, and great sedative too!.......2006-04-09
This is a wonderful book that any student of the American Revolution should read. Gordon Wood does a great job of highlighting the fact the our founding fathers were brilliant scholars and historians. I also love how they are placed in the context of the Enlightenment and the Glorious Revolution and how their knowledge of these events shaped American history. Gordon Wood is brilliant, as are our founding fathers. Gentle warning though, this book doesn't have that great of a rhetoric style to it and is rammed full of details, so expect reading it to put you to sleep after a while.
Nation building at its best.......2005-04-03
The Creation of the American Republic is a stunning testimonial to the spirit of Revolutionary era political thought. It is Gordon Wood's tracing of the ideas, ideals, and beliefs that went into the founding of The United States as a political entity by the men who would lead it in its first decades.
The Founding Fathers, as we tend to call those men of the late Eighteenth Century who led the Revolution and the first attempts at national government, were well versed in the political theory of their day. As citizens of the empire, they were well acquainted with British law and government, and became familiar with modern and ancient political philosophy as practiced and promoted elsewhere. This was, for them, the central issue facing their times. How, they asked, could a new government function for the benefit of all? How could it remain stable in the face of opposition, in the face of chaos and uncertainty, and under pressure from man's natural mistrust of higher authority? Wood guides us through the assumptions, experiences, and learned beliefs that guided our national leaders as they moved closer to and into revolution. They had, to say the least, a lot to think about. It was a given, after their long and lately unsatisfying experience with British power, that they would prefer that authority exist as much as possible at the lowest levels of society, typically in a state legislature or even a town council. But even this issue was fraught with questions over the nature of representation (bicameral versus unicameral legislatures, the power of governors etc.). Wood takes a lengthy topic-by-topic approach that precludes any breakdown of subjects here.
The situation that developed after the Revolution, as the people found, was that all their planning and debate on the nature of good government had failed. The state legislatures did not bring out the best in people, and often they attracted the worst sorts of men. This, as many people agreed, was a problem in search of a remedy. And so the spirit of strong national and constitutional government was born, with essentially another long round of philosophical thought about the nature of a constitution and debate about the strengths and weaknesses of central government. And so the story goes.
Looking at Wood from a practical perspective, the reader should be aware of what is included. The text exists almost entirely within the space of political theory. Though quotes are numerous, relevant, and well cited, they exist almost in a historical vacuum. There is virtually no mention made of any kind about actual events going on in the world. The reader unfamiliar with revolutionary history will be at a serious disadvantage in trying to figure out what happened that led the Founders to hold the opinions they did. How did the state legislatures fail? Greedy and mischievous men filled them. What exactly did they do? That, alas, is somewhat vague. Any mention of how events unfolded (like the war going on outside) is invisible within these pages. This is not strictly a problem by any means, but it is certainly worth mentioning to potential readers. This is political theory in a historical context, but physically in a bubble.
The least you need to know after reading Wood is that enormous time and energy went into justifying the Revolution and building a proper and functioning nation afterwards. Whatever other benefits may have come to those mostly well-off men who framed the debate and made the decisions (and they were certainly aware of their own financial and practical social differences with the bulk of the population; it formed a sizeable subset of their theory), they were well informed and generally desirous of building the best society they could, for everyone. This book alone is a good answer to historians recent and not-so-recent who have posited that other considerations make up the primary impetus behind the Revolution and the Constitution. This is simply not the case. Rather, revolutionary politics and nation founding attracted the attention of the brightest and most motivated men of the age. Though often in sometimes fierce disagreement even over fundamental issues, their goal remained honorable and beneficial to all.
Creation of the American Republic.......2004-08-24
This is one of those rare books that comes along once in a generation. No one prior, and no one since have come close to explaining the political ideology of the American Revolution and "Critical Period" so thoroughly. Gordon Wood picks up where Bernard Bailyn (who shows how American colonial governments evolved)leaves off and provides keen insight into how our present government came to be.
Wood makes no apologies for his subject, he simply does a superb job of providing the reader with evidence from which conclusions can be drawn. The Constitution is the culmination of the Revolution, but somehow it has allowed for our government to become the largest purveyor of entitlements the world has ever known. One wonders how the Articles of Confederation could have done much worse. Wood explains that Americans were freer under the Articles, but the politcos of the day saw an opportunity to grab a hold of the government and make people think they are actually a part of the decisions being made. Somewhere along the line, the original purity of American democracy became perverted into the monstrous federal government we see today.
But it wasn't always this way. Americans, according to Wood, saw themselves as the standard bearers for the English constitution once they saw how the English themselves had lost sight of their constitution's intent. They fought the war and crafted individual governments. Then along came the men of ambition who could not strive within the confines of a state government and needed something that would allow for greater achievement. Imperium in imperio became the obective of the new federal government.
Wood's book is excellent. This should be required reader for anyone serving in Congress (though most would not understand what Wood is saying and the rest would be too stupid to grasp the real meaning of how our government came to be and who it was meant to serve). Somehow special interests spanning the political spectrum have come to be and most common Americans are forced to make decisions being informed mainly by the bombardement of political advertisements we see on television.
If one desires to understand what the American Revolution meant for our political system, this book is a must read.
Book Description
One of the delights of a visit to Colonial Williamsburg, the restored colonial capital of Virginia, is discovering the great treasury of design to be found in its historic buildings. Every room of every authentically appointed home, shop, and tavern offers inspiration for today's home decorators. Now a selection of these exciting interiors (many of them completely repainted and refurnished according to the latest archaeological information on colonial life), along with contemporary interpretations by best-selling decorating author Tricia Foley, is collected here in the first book devoted exclusively to Williamsburg design.
To make the book useful for home decorators, design ideas are presented room by room: Living Rooms and Gathering Places; The Bedchamber; Dining Rooms, Kitchens, and Pantries; and Home and Garden. Interspersed with the rooms are sections highlighting details of particular importance for 18th- and 20th-century decorators alike: color, mantels, lighting, bed hangings, fabrics, window treatments, floorcloths, china, silver, settees, doors and shutters, staircases, fences and gates, and benches. Following each chapter are the "contemporary interpretations" by Tricia Foley--dozens of rooms decorated using the reproductions, fabrics, and accessories from the Colonial Williamsburg licensing program. Traditional decorating has never looked so fresh, so modern, so livable as it does in these pages.
With more than 275 photographs by Jeff McNamara of Williamsburg's homes and gardens, an engaging text by Catherine Calvert comparing modern living with the past, and a resource guide that helps the reader locate the perfect reproductions,
Williamsburg: Decorating with Style offers a look into the rich heritage of early American design, and confirms its enduring value for our own lifestyles.
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation was established in the 1920s by John D. Rockefeller Jr. to preserve the plan and buildings of the colonial capital of Virginia and to promote understanding of American life in the 18th century.
Customer Reviews:
worth every penny.......2005-01-21
i love williamsburg and period decorating, especially floor mats...what a great value at amazon... this IS an out-of-print book with limited availability, once they are completely sold out thats it...i had my copy appraised at pbagalleries.com using bibliobot...appraised value for this 1st edition book between 75 and 150 dollars!Get one while it is still available...sure to be a highly collectible book, you'll cherish and pass down to your kids...you'll love this book if you love history too...1st edition is printed inside this book...i also recommend you read Founding Brothers...
Great Book!!!!.......2004-10-20
Excellent book. Worth every cent I paid, (...) Well I guess you can pay 150 for a 1st edition, but why,for a book like this. Anyway, buy it from Williamsburg, the book is full of eye-candy!!
Book is great, and under Twenty dollars is a bargin! Beautiful pictures and text.
Williamsburg: Decorating with Style.......2003-01-07
After reading the editorials, I took the advice of one and contacted the Williamsburg foundation bookstore (757) 229-1000 x2753. This book is still available. You can purchase it for $[...] shipping and handling.
Saavy decorating.......2002-12-12
This book offers timeless grace and elegance for your decorating projects. It is not, however, out of print. A definite must-have for the home. I haven't ever purchased a Colonial Williamsburg Foundation book under fifty dollars that I didn't like.
Saavy decorating.......2002-12-12
This is a great book above any other. Shop around before you get charged 10X the amount of actual retail price. The Williamsburg Foundation is easily accessible thanks to the World Wide Web.
Book Description
Challenging the generally accepted belief that the introduction of racial slavery to America was an unplanned consequence of a scarce labor market, Anthony Parent, Jr., contends that during a brief period spanning the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries a small but powerful planter class, acting to further its emerging economic interests, intentionally brought racial slavery to Virginia.
Parent bases his argument on three historical developments: the expropriation of Powhatan lands, the switch from indentured to slave labor, and the burgeoning tobacco trade. He argues that these were the result of calculated moves on the part of an emerging great planter class seeking to consolidate power through large landholdings and the labor to make them productive. To preserve their economic and social gains, this planter class inscribed racial slavery into law. The ensuing racial and class tensions led elite planters to mythologize their position as gentlemen of pastoral virtue immune to competition and corruption. To further this benevolent image, they implemented a plan to Christianize slaves and thereby render them submissive. According to Parent, by the 1720s the Virginia gentry projected a distinctive cultural ethos that buffered them from their uncertain hold on authority, threatened both by rising imperial control and by black resistance, which exploded in the Chesapeake Rebellion of 1730.
Customer Reviews:
Slavery was a pivotal cog in the colonial power wheel.......2007-06-01
Those who have a passion for understanding the often complex, and sometimes, ambiguous, relationship between slavery and freedom in the colonial world will be pleased to read Anthony Parent's new work - Foul Means. This well written and exhaustively researched work discusses the aforementioned dilemma in Virginia from the mid-seventeenth to the mid-eighteenth century. The central argument is that the planter elite in Virginia, or "great planters," established America's racial dilemma. Modifying traditional colonial arguments, the author advances the thesis that planters were not conscious of their actions. "The analysis," contends Parent, "challenges the generally accepted belief that the shift to racial slavery was an `unthinking decision' on the part of a wide variety of aspiring planters who were responding to market and labor forces." (2) According to Parent, they knew that slavery was a pivotal cog in the colonial power wheel, and they carefully and consciously leveraged all available resources to tilt the balance in their favor. As for motivation, the planters were inspired by the ever shifting economic tides that existed between the New and Old Worlds.
The author emphasizes the importance of labor in the early American south and in England. The crown initially supported servitude in the colonies as means to promote and encourage economic development in the New World, but as Parent carefully articulates, the English economists came to realize the pitfalls of this arrangement. Charles II implemented this philosophy and "promoted the slave trade to preserve English labor for England." (60) The development of the slave trade became, in essence, more economically and lawfully viable for the crown.
Continuing with a tightly weaved chronological narrative, Parent discusses the role of tobacco as an impetus for class divisions in, and outside of, colonial Virginia. The lower prices of tobacco prompted the planters to look elsewhere for economic fervor. In short, they "promoted slavery as a remedy for the troubled tobacco economy." (81) The theme that planters were opportunists who monopolized each, and all, opportunities to suppress threats is well articulated by the author, and it is evident that their calculated manipulations shaped colonial America. Furthermore, their economic well being became a euphemism for freedom and the planters became so enmeshed with "white society in 1705," that they were "prepared to preserve racial slavery to the death." (129)
Highlighting the significance of slave rebellions, Parent is one of the first scholars to illuminate that insurrections "threatened the order of Virginia society." (172) He pays particular attention to the Chesapeake Rebellion and ties it to the dual role Christianity played in the early seventeenth century. Initially viewed as a way of controlling slaves and Indians, it later became a catapult (i.e., rumors of Christianity leading to emancipation) for prompting slaves to rebel against the white Virginia society. This interesting and insightful approach, paints a clear picture of how religion and freedom were interconnected entities in colonial society.
The only somewhat troubling portion of Parent's narrative was his constant referral to the ruling class in Virginia as the "great planters." They were not "great" in the pejorative sense, and perhaps the author struggled to label them. But were they really great at all? These elitist, such as William Byrd, had a large hand in creating an environment which supported and embraced racism. The lasting consequences of their actions have colored and corrupted American society for centuries. Why not assign a more appropriate title to these men, such as "economic tsars," or "colonial corrupters?"
The complexities of Parent's narrative touch on a wide array of facets, and in sum they advance a novel paradigm in colonial history. He convincingly demonstrates how slavery emerged in early Virginia history. Academics and peers should applaud Parent for this highly readable and carefully argued account of colonial history. This work should be required reading for all history students and economic historians.
Powerful.......2006-12-09
"Foul Means" is a powerful expose' of the history of slavery in the Virginia Commonwealth. Because of its importance in earlier American history, one can say, "As Virginia goes, so goes America." Thus, in many ways this book traces the course of slavery throughout the thirteen colonies and beyond and provides a moving picture of the ruthlessness involved in the enslavement of an entire race.
Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction.
Average customer rating:
- Very well done!
- Great for Intercultural Communication in ESL
- One of my favorite books growing up...
- Women and girls in Colonial America
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If You Lived In Williamsburg in Colonial Days
Barbara Brenner
Manufacturer: Scholastic Paperbacks
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ASIN: 0590929224 |
Book Description
A different time...
A different place...
What if you were there?
More than 200 years ago, two thousand people lived in the town of Williamsburg, Virginia.
If you lived back then
What would your house look like?
What games and sports would you play?
Would you go to school?
What happened when you were sick or hurt?
This book tells you what it was like to grow up in colonial days, before there was a United States of America.
Customer Reviews:
Very well done!.......2007-09-19
Presented in a lively question and answer fashion, this volume satisfies curiosities that both children and adults frequently have about life in the colonial capital of Virginia.
Family, work, food, government, fashion, and more are all presented in an easily understandable and fascinating manner. Well done!
Great for Intercultural Communication in ESL.......2006-03-25
I'm teaching Early American History to Japanese adults who have an "elementary" level of English and virtually no experience in studying American history. The "If You Lived in ....." books targeted for US elementary school children is ideal for college students in Japan. Just the title causes discussion. eg. Why do you spell Willimasburg with ..burg but then spell Pittsburgh with "h"?
One of my favorite books growing up..........2004-07-12
One of my favorite books growing up was a companion book in this series, called If You Lived in Colonial Times. The illustrations in all of these books is the best! Detailed drawings show what clothes the adults and kids would be wearing. Each page answers a different question like, "What happened when a child misbehaves?" Kids can learn a lot from these books. I plan to collect all of them for my children.
Women and girls in Colonial America.......2002-08-18
This book tells what it would be like if you lived in Colonial Williamsburg. Some pages even have little rhymes that go with the topics. This poem is about what women and girls wore:
"Little Polly Flinders
Sat among the cinders
Warming her pretty little toes.
Her mother came and caught her
And whipped her little daughter,
For spoiling her nice new clothes."
I recommend that you read it because it's a really interesting book and it tells about really interesting topics. I really enjoyed it.
Sarah in Nebraska
Book Description
Celebrated for their rarity, historical importance, and beauty, the maps of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries in the collection of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation provide an invaluable resource for the history of settlement in America. In the colonies, maps were essential in facilitating trade and travel, substantiating land claims, and settling boundary disputes. Today, knowing exactly what maps were owned and used during the period gives us a much richer understanding of the aspirations of early Americans.
This large, handsome volume-a carefully researched cultural investigation-examines how maps were made and marketed, why people here and abroad purchased them, what they reveal about the emerging American nation, and why they were so significant to the individuals who owned them. Among the rare or unique examples included here are several maps that have never before been published. A must for map collectors and historians, this book will also be treasured by the millions who travel each year to Colonial Williamsburg to celebrate their American heritage.
Customer Reviews:
A book of the first degree, and I don't mean latitude.......2003-06-19
Anyone who enjoys historic maps, particularly of colonial America, will be extremely glad they purchased this book. I have absorbed most of the print off the pages, being careful to leave the innumerable high resolution images in the book for future enjoyment. Many of the maps illustrated are of such rarity that one will rarely, if ever, see them elsewhere.
The book has 5 main sections:
1. Claiming the Land covers 40+ pages; the maps illustrated in this section "tell the story of how Europeans took possession of the land in the New World by royal claims by discovery and exploration, by companies comprised of private investors..., or by wealthy individuals asserting personal holdings. The obvious way... to substantiate ownership [was] by illustrating boundary lines on a chart or map."
2. Maps as Symbolic Objects covers 10 pages includes numerous engravings or portraits from the colonial era in which the subjects are holding or studying maps, or in which maps or globes can be seen in the background.
3. A Selection of Maps from the Colonial Williamsburg Collection is by far the largest section, covering about 268 pages. Just a few of the notable publishers or cartographers works included in this section are Ortelius, de Bry, Smith, Dudley, Senex, Moll, De Brahm, (John) Mitchell, Popple, Fry & Jefferson, Mouzon, Faden...WOW, I guess I shouldn't try to name them all.
4. The Atlas of John Custis, 1698 covers about 80 pages. A very thorough and fascinating history of this remarkable composite atlas is followed by a complete analysis of the 94 maps and charts contained therein.
5. Philip Lea and the Seventeenth-Century Map Trade covers almost 20 pages and provides an overview of the actual "business end" of the map trade in the 17th century, and a detailed look at Lea's business. This is a topic frequently (and unfortunately) overlooked in many historical map related texts.
Are there any flaws? Not really. I did notice that on several occasions the "detail" images of a section of a map offered no better resolution than the full map image. This is more a compliment to the quality of the full map images than an insult to the "details." I believe the author's intent was to draw attention to a particular component of the map with the "detail" images, not necessarily provide "Hubble" resolution.
I have no reservations at all in recommending this book, regardless of how many map books are already on your book shelf. The illustrations alone (I counted 482,185) are justification enough for purchasing the book. But I also found the accompanying text equally fascinating and edifying. Reading the book is not a chore or a bore, yet provides a tremendous educational experience. Oops, I didn't mean to imply that educational books are usually boring, but I guess I did. And no, there aren't really 482,185 illustrations, but there are a boatload, and they are of superb quality. Enjoy the book!
Customer Reviews:
A good cheesy feel good story for anyone who feel nostalgic for beginning of the great American story.......2007-08-05
I got this book as a present for my mom. It's pretty nice. The edges of the book are like plated with something that looks like gold. I'm sure it's like fool's gold though. The book has all the covers of the six books in the series too. It has a ownership page in the front that let's you write who the book belongs to, which is just like a Bible.
I got the book because I have the audiobook for the series too. I picked the Felicity series because there is some romantic about a story about a little girl at the dawn of our nation. There isn't really anything about the revolutionary war though. I wouldn't expect there to be any stories about the British Redcoats torturing American prisoners of war since this IS a children's book. :)
If you get the audiobook CDs, this book is definitely a nice thing to have. You can like turn the audiobook on instead of reading to your kids if you're lazy or something. :-D Just kidding.
It's a good book to have, and it's pretty cheap too.
Warm and wonderful introduction to US history.......2007-06-24
I stumbled across this series when trying to prepare my daughters for a trip to Williamsburg, VA. Aware of the dolls, I assumed that the writing would be bland, long advertisement for the dolls, but I was mistaken. Ms.Tripp does an admirable job creating a charming character in a world rich with interesting detail that captured and held the interest of my 8 and 10 year old girls, while interesting them into the culture that existed at the time. My girls were thrilled to tour Williamsburg after reading about it. It made the experience real for them. My only hesitation is that in several of the stories, Felicity sneaks out and runs away from home for various reasons, and I am wary of that dangerous example for my daughters. I recommend that you read and discuss with your daughters.
enjoyable fiction for girls.......2006-07-20
I bought this book for my 7 year old daughter. She loved reading it and didn't want to put it down. I like it because it was easy for her to read, but not too easy, and it included some character lessons and a little history.
Perfect Books for Girls Of All Ages.......2005-12-15
The Felcity book series is very interesting and fun. In this book Felcity Merriman is a spunky and independant girl growing up in the 1770`s. In the first book Felcity must rescue a copper colored mare named Penny who is being badly abused by her owner Jiggy Nye. In the second book Felcity`s parents send her to manner lessons where she must learn to be a proper lady even though she would rather be riding side saddle atop a horse. In the 3rd book Felcity`s mother is ill and Felcity is invited to a fancy ball. It is also Christmas time and everyone if hoping for a Christmas miracle for Felcity`s mother to live. In the 4th book it`s time for Felcity`s birthday and her grandfather comes to visit and gives her a beautiful guitar and a sweet lamb named Posie. Then the guitar is ruined because Felcity left it in the rain for sure everyone will be mad. She hopes her grandfather will still trust her though. Will he or will he not? In the fifth bookw hich is my favorate Felcity`s father`s apperentice "Ben" has run away to join the army which breaks the contract between Felcity`s Father.When Felcity finds Ben he`s injured and Felcity must do what`s right to help. In the last book which is the sixth Felicity`s has her horse Penny back now and now Penny is pregnant with a foal then Penny`s labor turns for the worst. In the end Felcity must consult her old enemy,Jiggy Nye to help save her.You`ll really enjoy this series so please check it out!
graeter than ever.......2003-01-30
This is the greatest books i have ever read .They are everything you would want in a book !They'r so good I have my own collection and i think if you like to read and love you would love these books!BEST BOOKS!!!
Book Description
Colonial America presented a new world of natural curiosities for settlers as well as the London-based scientific community. In American Curiosity, Susan Scott Parrish examines how various peoples in the British colonies understood and represented the natural world around them from the late sixteenth century through the eighteenth. Rather than flowing strictly from metropole to colony, scientific knowledge about America emerged from a horizontal exchange of information across the Atlantic.
Delving into an understudied archive of letters, Parrish uncovers early descriptions of American natural phenomena as well as clues to how people in the colonies construed their own identities through the natural world. Although hierarchies of gender, class, institutional learning, place of birth or residence, and race persisted within the natural history community, the contributions of any participant were considered valuable as long as they supplied novel data or specimens from the American side of the Atlantic. Thus Anglo-American nonelites, women, Indians, and enslaved Africans all played crucial roles in gathering and relaying new information to Europe.
Recognizing a significant tradition of nature writing and representation in North America well before the Transcendentalists, American Curiosity also enlarges our notions of the scientific Enlightenment by looking beyond European centers to find a socially inclusive American base to a true transatlantic expansion of knowledge.
Books:
- Leonardo's Notebooks
- Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film
- Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels
- Manga Mania: Chibi and Furry Characters: How to Draw the Adorable Mini-characters and Cool Cat-girls of Japanese Comics (Manga Mania)
- More Alive With Color: Personal Colors - Personal Style (Capital Lifestyles) (Capital Lifestyles)
- Nancy Cunard: Heiress, Muse, Political Idealist
- New Edge of the Anvil: A Resource Book for the Blacksmith
- Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
- Oil Painting for the Serious Beginner: Basic Lessons in Becoming a Good Painter
- Oil Painting for the Serious Beginner: Basic Lessons in Becoming a Good Painter
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
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- The Taste for Living Cookbook: Mike Milken's Favorite Recipes for Fighting Cancer
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- 7 Reasons to be Grateful you're the Mother of a Newborn
- Draw Family & Friends!
- The Gibson Girl and Her America: The Best Drawings of Charles Dana Gibson
- Ginkgo Biloba- A Global Treasure: FROM BIOLOGY TO MEDICINE
If You Lived In Williamsburg in Colonial Days
Insiders' Guide to Williamsburg and Virginia's Historic Triangle, 14th (Insiders' Guide Series)
Frommer's Virginia (Frommer's Complete)
Official Guide to Colonial Williamsburg
The Jamestown Project
