First Generations: Women in Colonial America

So many history books are dry and difficult to read. This was the exact opposite. Carol Berkin breathes life into the dim periods of early Colonial American history. Although she often has little more details than land records, birth, marriage, and death dates (and in some cases, not even that) Berkin is able to paint a vivid picture of what it might have been like for the strong women who, willingly or not, helped to create America. Berkin is an equal opportunity historian -- each chapter of her book focuses on a particular strata of female colonial society: Native America women, African American women, poor white immigrant women, and wealthy women. In this way, the reader gets a full picture of the diverse cultural groups that existed from the earliest days of Colonial America. There are also some real surprises (I wont spoil them for you) which leads the reader to believe that life in Colonial America was much more complex and unpredictable than you might have thought. This book was both educational and entertaining and I highly recommend it.

Carol Berkin offers informative essays on women in different ethnic and regional cultures of colonial America. The life story of a woman from each of the groups considered lends character and definition to this excellent scholarly work. African-American women, Native American women, and Anglo-American women in New England and the Chesapeake are among those considered. As New Amsterdam became New York, women of Dutch descent experienced major changes in their legal rights. Berkin's treatment of this transition from Dutch to English law exemplifies her fascinating and informative style.The study ends with a discussion of women's lives during the American Revolution, including the moving stories of women who lost their fortunes or their lives in that struggle. The biographies of martyrs, however, do not eclipse a good discussion of the everyday lives of women during the conflict. Berkin also examines how the logic of democratic revolution, strangely, did not extend to women's rights. Berkin has made an indispensable contribution to colonial history, women's history and ethnic history.