Colonial America

These books convey the essentials of the history of Colonial America.

• History of America by Eric Daniels. These recorded lectures give an essentialized history of America from its colonial beginnings.
• Mitre and Sceptre, Transatlantic Faiths, Ideas, Personalities and Politics by Carl Bridenbaugh. (out-of-print, see sources.)
• Pursuits of Happiness, The Social Development of Early Modern British Colonies and the Formation of American Culture by Jack P. Greene.
• The Enlightenment in America by Ernest Cassara. Short on interpretation, but it is intelligible and presents an excellent selection of concrete examples and citations. And it is short, 190 pages in paperback.
• The Puritan Dilemma by Edmund S. Morgan.
• France and England in North America by Francis Parkman. Best read in Samuel E. Morison, ed., The Parkman Reader. Parkman is one of the greatest of 19^th-century American historians. Excellent depiction of New France, which serves as a laboratory test-case to compare against New England (thus furnishing a good example of the role of ideas in history).