Reference Reviews

Lawrence Looks at Books

British Colonial America: People and Perspectives, edited by John A. Grigg. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2008. 978-1-59884-025-4; 2008-6372. $85.

British Colonial America: People and Perspectives This latest volume in ABC-CLIO’s Perspectives in American Social History Series examines social conditions in the English colonies of North America. As with other volumes in the series, the emphasis is on social change as well as everyday life and people. Thus, the ten expert-written chapters of this volume explore the challenges facing Native Americans, indentured servants, slaves, women, urban workers, non-British minorities and frontier settlers in colonial British America. Changes in religious practices are the focus of chapters on Puritans and the Great Awakening. Occasional sidebars highlight the lives of notable figures such as Squanto, Cotton Mather, Anne Hutchinson, Conrad Weiser, Jonathan Edwards, Olaudah Equiano and the Cherokee Oconasta. A selection of 22 primary documents illuminates the thoughts and attitudes of early settlers. A brief chronology and glossary support the text. The volume concludes with a bibliographic essay on resources for pursuing the social history of the era. Though selective in its coverage, this volume provides an excellent demonstration for high school and college students of ways to approach social history. When combined with the 15 other period volumes planned in this series, the set will provide an excellent introduction to American social history.
—John R.M. Lawrence