Adapting to a New World - English Society in the Seventeenth-Century Chesapeake

Often compared unfavorably with colonial New England, the early Chesapeake has been portrayed as irreligious, unstable, and violent. In this important new study, James Horn challenges this conventional view and looks across the Atlantic to assess the enduring influence of English attitudes, values, and behavior on the social and cultural evolution of the early Chesapeake. Using detailed local and regional studies to compare everyday life in English provincial society and the emergent societies of the Chesapeake Bay, Horn provides a richly textured picture of the immigrants' Old World backgrounds and their adjustment to life in America. Until the end of the seventeenth century, most settlers in Virginia and Maryland were born and raised in England, a factor of enormous consequence for social development in the two colonies. By stressing the vital social and cultural connections between England and the Chesapeake during this period, Horn places the development of early America in the context of a vibrant Anglophone transatlantic world and suggests a fundamental reinterpretation of New World society.

About the author

James Horn is director of the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library in Colonial Williamsburg.

Summary

Often compared unfavourably with colonial New England, the early Chesapeake has been portrayed as irreligious, unstable, and violent. This study challenges this view and looks across the Atlantic to assess the enduring influence of English attitudes, values, and behaviour on the early Chesapeake.

Product details

• Authors: James Horn, James J. Horn
• Publisher: Omohundro Institute and UNC Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.09.1996
• EAN: 9780807846148
• ISBN: 978-0-8078-4614-8
• No. of pages: 480
• Dimensions: 156 mm x 234 mm x 28 mm
• Weight: 810 g
• Series: Published for the Omohundro In; Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia; Published by the Omohundro Ins; Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > General, dictionaries