Everyday Life in Colonial America

Very interesting, informative and educational. I was particularly attracted to the book because the author researched his topics through Colonial Williamsburg experts, who know more about this stuff than anybody.

The Writer's Guide series is intended to "syntheize the many facts available into concepts that help you understand the period without excessive study," to quote the author's introduction, and in that this volume of it succeeds well. Of course, in a book of this size, such a large number of subjects can only be covered in a fairly superficial manner, but the extensive bibliographies do help by providing pointers to other useful works. And since social histories always tend to be thinner on the ground than mainstream ones (battles and kings and Parliaments), any comprehensive book on the subject is welcome.The book starts out with a general timeline, then offers a regional overview of the major developments and occurrences in each of four major regions, and goes on to touch on everyday life (food and drink, architecture, clothing and accessories, marriage and family), government and war (including "money, economy, trade, travel, and navigation"), and Colonial society (arts and sciences, trades, professions, religion). Period terms and unusual colloquialisms are emphasized by a special typeface. Though the illustrations are relatively few, they are clear and well-chosen, and there are several sidebars showing such things as weights and measures and the sequences of commands used in artillery and in matchlock-rifle companies. It may simply be because I don't often have occasion to look into social histories of this era (my period is more likely to be 1840-90), but I found that this one provided me with quite a lot of useful information. Writers and casual students alike should be able to say the same.

Not just for writers, but historians, hobbyists, and anyone interested in the small details of life in other times. This volume, like the others in the series, includes chapters (with figures and illustrations) on food, clothing, family life, work, education, religion, leisure activities, social and political history, etc. Great for browsing, great for research. Recommended.

I just bought this book, in spite of the previous review, and found it useful and informative. I was surprised by the depth of the information. If you are working on any piece that requires exhaustive research I'm sure you would want to check more than one source. But this book is a wonderful place to begin your research.

This book is a well researched and organized overview of life in the early American colonies. Taylor goes to great pains to supply insights into government and family matters of, and the trades and professions of 17th and 18th century settlers. Intended as a sourcebook for writers, it is also a must for the history student who wishes to better understand American colonists.