Never truly a "new world"entirely detached from the home countries of its immigrants, colonial America, over the generations, became a model of transatlantic culture. Colonial society was shaped by the conflict between colonists' need to adapt to the American environment and their desire to perpetuate old world traditions or to imitate the charismatic model of the British establishment. In the course of colonial history, these contrasting impulses produced a host of distinctive cultures and identities. In this impressive new collection, prominent scholars of early American history explore this complex dynamic of accommodation and replication to demonstrate how early American societies developed from the intersection of American and Atlantic influences. The volume, edited by Robert Olwell and Alan Tully, offers fresh perspectives on colonial history and on early American attitudes toward slavery and ethnicity, native Americans, and the environment, as well as colonial social, economic, and political development. It reveals the myriad ways in which American colonists were the inhabitants and subjects of a wider Atlantic world. Cultures and Identities in Colonial British America, one of a three-volume series under the editorship of Jack P. Greene, aims to give students of Atlantic history a "state of the field"survey by pursuing interesting lines of research and raising new questions. The entire series, "Anglo-America in the Transatlantic World,"engages the major organizing themes of the subject through a collection of high-level, debate-inspiring essays, inviting readers to think anew about the complex ways in which the Atlantic experience shaped both American societies and the Atlantic world itself.

About the Author
Robert Olwell and Alan Tully teach early American history at the University of Texas, Austin.

Reviews
Very engaging collection of twelve original essays. -- Neil Kennedy Itinerario: European Journal of Overseas History 2006 A helpful introduction. -- Leonard J. Sadosky North Carolina Historical Review 2007 An impressive collection of accessible essays from twelve historians. -- Marcia Schmidt Blaine Journal of World History 2007 The editors here are to be applauded for coping so admirably with the challenge of creating a coherent volume out of such a broad range of topics. -- Sarah M. S. Pearsall Journal of British Studies 2007 A coherent dialogue among scholars who examined various fragments of the empire in their specific permutations. -- Linda Sturtz Journal of Southern History 2007



Book Information
ISBN 9780801882517
Author Robert Olwell
Format Hardback
Page Count 360
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 658g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 28mm