American Colonial History: Clashing Cultures and Faiths

by Thomas S. Kidd

Overview

Thomas Kidd, a widely respected scholar of colonial history, deftly offers both depth and breadth in this accessible, introductory text on the American Colonial era. Interweaving primary documents and new scholarship with a vivid narrative reconstructing the lives of European colonists, Africans, and Native Americans and their encounters in colonial North America, Kidd offers fresh perspectives on these events and the period as a whole. This compelling volume is organized around themes of religion and conflict, and distinguished by its incorporation of an expanded geographic frame.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300187328
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	04/26/2016
Pages:	344
Sales rank:	257,682
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Thomas S. Kidd is distinguished professor of history at Baylor University and the author of numerous books, including God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution and The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America. He lives in Waco, Texas.

Editorial Reviews

03/15/2016
Using the overlapping themes of religion and war, Kidd (history, Baylor Univ.; The Great Awakening) traces the developments of the colonies in Central and North America from European contact in 1492 through the conclusion of the Seven Years' War in 1763. The book is organized in chapters that focus on each region and its colonizers in turn (e.g., Mexico and New Mexico by the Spanish; Canada by the French) and highlights major interactions with native peoples. Later chapters detail developments that affected multiple regions including the Glorious Revolution, which handed the British throne to the Protestant cause in 1688, and the First Great Awakening, an Evangelical revival that had long-lasting impacts on religious thought. Each chapter is accompanied by a handful of primary-source documents. Those focusing on Indian religions are particularly compelling, while others addressing the breadth of Indian slavery, a topic gaining greater scholarly attention, demonstrate this work's currency. VERDICT This fine, up-to-date survey of the peoples of the post-Columbian Americas, from European contact to the Revolutionary period, is best suited to interested undergraduates or as a core text for courses on the subject.—Evan M. Anderson, Kirkendall P.L., Ankeny, IA

Library Journal