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Title: The Island at the Center of the World : The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan, the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America by RUSSELL SHORTO ISBN: 0-385-50349-0 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 16 March, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.8 (15 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Stick with it
Comment: My heart sank when I started the first chapter of "Island at the Center of the World": "On a late summer's day in the year 1608, a gentleman of London made his way across that city." Yo Russell, I spent good money on your book, I don't like being served up warmed-over literary devices like the "you are there" intro. Slang uses of words like "weird" and bitchy" sprinkled over the first dozen or so pages also rang false, as per other reviews. But Shorto's enthusiasm, humility and the intrinsic originality of "Island's" thesis eventually won me over. I would have liked to have read more about daily life in the colony and heard a bit less about prostitutes (have a good time researching in Amsterdam, Mr. Shorto?), but in all this is a worthy and enjoyable book. The author makes a strong case for the lasting impact of the Dutch legacy of diversity and religious toleration on American society, and the roots of that legacy in Dutch and European history. Judging by the recent brouhahas over Janet Jackson and Howard Stern, however, it may be too soon to downgrade Puritan legacies like prurience and hypocrisy as cultural mainsprings. Overall, a well-written and interesting work.
Rating: 2
Summary: Good Story Poorly Told
Comment: What a missed opportunity! With the use of recently revealed material Shorto, with much publicity, presents us with what is billed as a new and exciting history of early Dutch settlement in America. The main problem is that it is not popular history, but historical fiction. In an effort to create a narrative story, Shorto informs us of dialogue, weather, the color of the sky, and specifics of peoples' clothes in specific circumstances throughout, information totally a creation of the author's imagination. One is tempted to say that the work is direly in need of an editor to clean up the mis-spellings, incorrect use of pronouns, clumsy repetitions, etc., but even that would not solve the main problem with this book: the author has taken new and fascinating information and made it boring.
My only hope is that there is room for another effort to present this material to us, one which does justice to the material and our intelligence. This book does neither.
Rating: 2
Summary: Interesting idea for a book, poor follow through
Comment: I don't know if this person is just a bad author or if or if they just can't write this type of book but this book is horrible. I'm not quite done it yet and I don't know if I'll bother finishing. While this is a story that needs to be told it deserves a better person to do so.
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Title: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow ISBN: 1594200092 Publisher: The Penguin Press Pub. Date: 26 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Beverwijck: A Dutch Village on the American Frontier, 1652-1664 by Janny Venema ISBN: 0791460800 Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Washington's Crossing (Pivotal Moments in American History) by David Hackett Fischer ISBN: 0195170342 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: February, 2004 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Freedom Just Around the Corner : A New American History: 1585-1828 by Walter A. McDougall ISBN: 0060197897 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 28 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe by Laurence Bergreen ISBN: 0066211735 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 14 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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