Between Two Worlds

Over 350000 intrepid English men women and children migrated to America in the 17th century leaving behind their homeland for an uncertain future on distant shores. Whether they settled in Jamestown Salem or Barbados these early English migrants - entrepreneurs soldiers and pilgrims alike - sought to re-create their old country in the new land. Yet as Malcolm Gaskill reveals in Between Two Worldscolonists'' efforts to remake England and retain their Englishness proved impossible. As they strove to leave their mark on the New World they too were altered: by harsh wilderness by illness and infighting and by bloody battles with Indians. Gradually acclimating to their new environment later generations realized that they were perhaps not even English at all. These were the first Americans and their newfound independence would propel them along the path toward rebellion. A major work of transatlantic history Between Two Worlds brilliantly illuminates the long complicated and often traumatic process by which English colonists became American.