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Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America
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Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Author: David Hackett Fischer
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
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Our Price: $23.07
You Save: $ 11.88 ( 34% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Author: David Hackett Fischer
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Average Customer Rating:
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Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780195069051
ISBN: 0195069056
Label: Oxford University Press, USA
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 972
Publication Date: 1991-03-14
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Studio: Oxford University Press, USA
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780195069051
ISBN: 0195069056
Label: Oxford University Press, USA
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 972
Publication Date: 1991-03-14
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Studio: Oxford University Press, USA
Editorial Review of Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America
This fascinating book is the first volume in a projected cultural history of the United States, from the earliest English settlements to our own time. It is a history of American folkways as they have changed through time, and it argues a thesis about the importance for the United States of having been British in its cultural origins.
While most people in the United States today have no British ancestors, they have assimilated regional cultures which were created by British colonists, even while preserving ethnic identities at the same time. In this sense, nearly all Americans are "Albion's Seed," no matter what their ethnicity may be. The concluding section of this remarkable book explores the ways that regional cultures have continued to dominate national politics from 1789 to 1988, and still help to shape attitudes toward education, government, gender, and violence, on which differences between American regions are greater than between European nations.
While most people in the United States today have no British ancestors, they have assimilated regional cultures which were created by British colonists, even while preserving ethnic identities at the same time. In this sense, nearly all Americans are "Albion's Seed," no matter what their ethnicity may be. The concluding section of this remarkable book explores the ways that regional cultures have continued to dominate national politics from 1789 to 1988, and still help to shape attitudes toward education, government, gender, and violence, on which differences between American regions are greater than between European nations.
Customer Reviews of Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Long Read, but Well Worth It
Review: My daughter was very impressed by Albion's Seed when she read it as part of her undergrad studies in history. Several years after her graduation, I finally got around to reading it. I love scholarly books on history. Before Albion's Seed, I'd read Karen Armstrong's A History of God and Ronald Takaki's A Different Mirror. I didn't find Fischer's strength to be his writing (actually, there were several times when I became annoyed with him for his lack of footnotes, which would have especially worthwhile to explain some of the obscurities he passed over), but Fischer's strength is analysis--especially in tying the English colonists folkways to geographic behaviors and trends of today. Albion's Way is a wonderful seminal work on American culture. As long as it took me to finish this book (it was a long slog for me), it was incredibly worthwhile. Highly recommended!
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Not a scholar...
Review: but I am a student of history and I have found this book fascinating. I read it like a novel. It is easy to understand and is full of little known cultural information that makes it educational, as well. I do not fancy myself a scholar, by any stretch, but I do like a good read and this is one of the best non-fiction books I have read in a long time.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Too comprehensive
Review: You can't fault DHF for omission of detail in this volume (the first of possibly many). This is the beginning of a history of social trends in America, based upon a thesis that there are four elemental sources of those trends: The Puritans of the Northeast, The Cavaliers of Virginia, the Quakers of Pennsylvania, and the Scots-Irish of the mountains. There will be much to quibble about whether American society can be reduced to these four elements. Unfortunately, it likely will take another 5,0000 pages to see. In an effort to reduce a vast amount of detail to an origanized set of information, DHF resorts to an annoying general term "way" to compare among the four groups philosophy, society, architecture, clothing, marital relations, even "gender" (nodding to the PC crowd). DHF thus attempts to do way too much and cover way too much detail. (In arguing for these four societies as the elements of modern American society is it really necessary to get into how each treated "gender" issues? He must have taught a gender studies class.) DHF clearly is a genius and full of information. But he is too interested in showing off his encyclopedia and that detracts from what otherwise is an interesting project.
Loaded with interesting detail. Good luck getting through it all, especially as further volumes come.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Informative And Well Written Book About Early American Colonists
Review: This is my favorite sort of book, serious academic research combined with a style of writing that is highly accessible and a pleasure to read. This book will serve as a brillant revelation to those unfamilar with the subject matter. But it is also extensive and detailed enough that even the most knowledgable will learn something new.
As a Southerner with British ancestors who arrived in America in both the 1600's and 1700's, I was especially interested to learn more about the distinctions between those who came from south and southwest England to settle tidewater Virginia between 1642-1675 and the northern English, Scotch and Scotch-Irish who came to the highlands and backwoods of the South from 1717-1775.
The Virginia cavaliers formed a small aristocracy that ruled over the more numerous poor to middling whites, many of whom originally came over as indentured servants. These English aristocrats often later became the plantation owners who achieved ever more wealth off the labor of black slaves. Meanwhile, the backcountry English, Scotch and Scotch-Irish continued, with some notable exceptions, to live in poverty while maintaining the violent but honor based social customs of their borderland ancestors. It was these people who formed the basis of the sterotypically Southern "redneck culture" that still exists.
Fischer also provides ample information about the differences between the Puritans who landed in Massachusetts and the Quakers who settled in Pennsylvania. Of course, the cultural makeup of the North became considerly more complicated following the vast migrations of immigrants that arrived from Ireland, Italy and many other countries in the 19th century. In contrast, the South received a much smaller number of later immigrants and its population continued to largely consist of people of either British or African heritage until recent decades.
But Fischer makes a convincing case that it was these original four, very different but still British, folkways that formed the basis of early American law, religion, and politics and that they continue to serve as important cultural influences to the present day. A terrific book recommended for all those interested in colonial American history.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Essential reading for understanding our history
Review: This book is incredibly interesting and provides detailed and wonderful support for its complex analysis of the origins of many regional practices in the US. It's a joy to read and packed with fascinating information about our history. Anyone interested in American History should read it without delay
Review Summary: Long Read, but Well Worth It
Review: My daughter was very impressed by Albion's Seed when she read it as part of her undergrad studies in history. Several years after her graduation, I finally got around to reading it. I love scholarly books on history. Before Albion's Seed, I'd read Karen Armstrong's A History of God and Ronald Takaki's A Different Mirror. I didn't find Fischer's strength to be his writing (actually, there were several times when I became annoyed with him for his lack of footnotes, which would have especially worthwhile to explain some of the obscurities he passed over), but Fischer's strength is analysis--especially in tying the English colonists folkways to geographic behaviors and trends of today. Albion's Way is a wonderful seminal work on American culture. As long as it took me to finish this book (it was a long slog for me), it was incredibly worthwhile. Highly recommended!
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Not a scholar...
Review: but I am a student of history and I have found this book fascinating. I read it like a novel. It is easy to understand and is full of little known cultural information that makes it educational, as well. I do not fancy myself a scholar, by any stretch, but I do like a good read and this is one of the best non-fiction books I have read in a long time.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Too comprehensive
Review: You can't fault DHF for omission of detail in this volume (the first of possibly many). This is the beginning of a history of social trends in America, based upon a thesis that there are four elemental sources of those trends: The Puritans of the Northeast, The Cavaliers of Virginia, the Quakers of Pennsylvania, and the Scots-Irish of the mountains. There will be much to quibble about whether American society can be reduced to these four elements. Unfortunately, it likely will take another 5,0000 pages to see. In an effort to reduce a vast amount of detail to an origanized set of information, DHF resorts to an annoying general term "way" to compare among the four groups philosophy, society, architecture, clothing, marital relations, even "gender" (nodding to the PC crowd). DHF thus attempts to do way too much and cover way too much detail. (In arguing for these four societies as the elements of modern American society is it really necessary to get into how each treated "gender" issues? He must have taught a gender studies class.) DHF clearly is a genius and full of information. But he is too interested in showing off his encyclopedia and that detracts from what otherwise is an interesting project.
Loaded with interesting detail. Good luck getting through it all, especially as further volumes come.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Informative And Well Written Book About Early American Colonists
Review: This is my favorite sort of book, serious academic research combined with a style of writing that is highly accessible and a pleasure to read. This book will serve as a brillant revelation to those unfamilar with the subject matter. But it is also extensive and detailed enough that even the most knowledgable will learn something new.
As a Southerner with British ancestors who arrived in America in both the 1600's and 1700's, I was especially interested to learn more about the distinctions between those who came from south and southwest England to settle tidewater Virginia between 1642-1675 and the northern English, Scotch and Scotch-Irish who came to the highlands and backwoods of the South from 1717-1775.
The Virginia cavaliers formed a small aristocracy that ruled over the more numerous poor to middling whites, many of whom originally came over as indentured servants. These English aristocrats often later became the plantation owners who achieved ever more wealth off the labor of black slaves. Meanwhile, the backcountry English, Scotch and Scotch-Irish continued, with some notable exceptions, to live in poverty while maintaining the violent but honor based social customs of their borderland ancestors. It was these people who formed the basis of the sterotypically Southern "redneck culture" that still exists.
Fischer also provides ample information about the differences between the Puritans who landed in Massachusetts and the Quakers who settled in Pennsylvania. Of course, the cultural makeup of the North became considerly more complicated following the vast migrations of immigrants that arrived from Ireland, Italy and many other countries in the 19th century. In contrast, the South received a much smaller number of later immigrants and its population continued to largely consist of people of either British or African heritage until recent decades.
But Fischer makes a convincing case that it was these original four, very different but still British, folkways that formed the basis of early American law, religion, and politics and that they continue to serve as important cultural influences to the present day. A terrific book recommended for all those interested in colonial American history.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Essential reading for understanding our history
Review: This book is incredibly interesting and provides detailed and wonderful support for its complex analysis of the origins of many regional practices in the US. It's a joy to read and packed with fascinating information about our history. Anyone interested in American History should read it without delay