The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History, Volume 1: Atlantic America 1492-1800 (Shaping of America; A Geographical Perspective of 500 Years of History)

This study discusses how an immense diversity of ethnic and religious groups became sorted into a set of distinct regional societies in North America

These two volumes herald important new interpretations of America's development. Both are the first of projected multivolume efforts by distinguished scholars. Bailyn will cover the period 1500 to the Industrial Revolution, and Meinig will deal with the years 1492 to 1990. The volumes reviewed here cover roughly the same time period. They are complementary, portraying early America in a larger context, as an outpost of civilization and subject to continual change in these formative years. Bailyn sketches the main themes of his series. "Peopling" is used in its broadest sense, making reference to old country mobility, its "spillover" to America, America's highly differentiated settlement, and the importance of labor scarcity and land speculation in creating "the powerful American magnet." Bailyn views this early America as an exotic "Western borderland world of Britain," combining "primitivism" (e.g., Indian wars and slavery) and "progressive civilization." Meinig's work differs considerably from Bailyn's in scope and approach, going well beyond British North America and employing a geographer's perspective to explore "social and cultural patterns." In doing this, Meinig ably proves that geography has been seriously "undervalued" in the study of America's development. Especially noteworthy is Meinig's major theme that America has been "created by massive aggression against a long succession of peoples." Both books are very highly recommended for academic and large public libraries. Roy H. Tryon, Delaware State Archives, Dover
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