Everyday Life in Early America

I'm writing a novel set in America in the 1600's. This book was invaluable for giving life to my words. Lots of interesting and useful information.

I read this book after reading  The Reshaping of Everyday Life: 1790-1840 (Everyday Life in America)  and  Home Life in Colonial Days . All the books had a little over-lap but each book had slightly different focus, information and detail. I enjoyed this book very much; the chapters are as follows:O Strange New World > Who came and Why They Came - What They Brought With Them - What They FoundSettling InThe FarmThe HouseThe HomeHealthThe Rhythms of LifeManners and MoralsRed, White and BlackWarBeyond the FarmWonders of the Invisible WorldToward the Eighteenth CenturyThis book has a lot of super quotes - it was very thesis-like in that the introduction had 2 quotes, one from  The Waning of the Middle Ages  and the other from  In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life  and then the author's final paragraph from the introduction really set the tone for the book:"Although relics from the past do survive, the everyday life of seventeenth-century Americans differed drastically from ours. As Fernand Braudel, like Deetz, reminds us to comprehend it we must 'strip ourselves in imagination of all the surroundings of our own lives.' The journey backward, he adds 'is a journey to another planet, another human universe."And this author really hits a home run showing how different life was and giving us a full understanding of the frame of mind of people then, and what was going on in history and around them and all that created them; a super dramaturgy of the times.

l like the topic and enjoyed the book. It was exactly what I was looking for and was glad to find it on Amazon.com. It is a book that I will keep on my shelf to use along with genealogy as I have relatives who were in America at that early time.

Gave me a lot of valuable info in the life of Colonial people that I used during Colonial days at Mt Vernon. Easy to read with some illustrations. This book goes into all aspects of daily life

I'd already had the post-Revolution and Victorian books in the "Everyday Life" series, and just bought the Westward Expansion/Civil War volume, so decided to buy the other two books in the series. This, the first, is, sadly, a bit tedious, and that's a shame, because there are facts here I'd never read anywhere else, such as that the Pilgrims had little experience in farming; or how the amount of land a colonist had in different parts of the country determined what type of fence you would build (incidentally, "good fences make good neighbors" was a truism: if you did not have your crops properly fenced in and cattle ate them, it was your fault, not the owner of the cattle). There is a continual emphasis on the colonists' use of wood from the plentiful forests, England having nearly been deforested by that time by the regular need for wood. One of the interesting points of discussion is how the traditions of English life changed, for instance, that in England farmers lived in the village and walked to their fields every day; once in the United States they moved their homes to their fields. It's a good summary of colonial life, but rather dry. I'm glad to have it to complete the set, though.

I'm in the process of reading all the books in this series. This is the first one I read and my favorite so far. I think the author did a good job of being fairly transparent and giving a good unbiased overview of the times and the people (unlike others in the series). It kept me interested and content that I was not reading an exposition in "agenda" writing. I think the book could have been fleshed out a bit more and some more details included, but I won't complain too much. It was interesting reading and a good overview; it didn't become so academic as to become boring. So I think the tendency toward brevity is better than becoming bogged down with more of a textbook approach (unless that's what you are looking for).

I needed this book for a class and at the time i couldnt afford to buy all my books in new condition so i decided to go with a used one from amazon. I could not be any happier with my desicion. When i opened the book up, because it was used it was filled with notes on the margins which helped out a lot. I know maybe i just got lucky but it still deserves a perfect review.

I'm giving a review on the book itself. It's in very good condition. Very well kept and plan to buy more from this seller.The only thing I hate is the information in this book. It's so boring.

Thank you, everything as described!

Great read with fast delivery