false <![CDATA[The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America]]> 45000 12 When the British wrested New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664, the truth about its thriving, polyglot society began to disappear into myths about an island purchased for 24 dollars and a cartoonish peg-legged governor. But the story of the Dutch colony of New Netherland was merely lost, not destroyed: 12,000 pages of its records&#8211;recently declared a national treasure&#8211;are now being translated. Drawing on this remarkable archive, Russell Shorto has created a gripping narrative&#8211;a story of global sweep centered on a wilderness called Manhattan&#8211;that transforms our understanding of early America.<br><br>The Dutch colony pre-dated the &#8220;original&#8221; thirteen colonies, yet it seems strikingly familiar. Its capital was cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic, and its citizens valued free trade, individual rights, and religious freedom. Their champion was a progressive, young lawyer named Adriaen van der Donck, who emerges in these pages as a forgotten American patriot and whose political vision brought him into conflict with Peter Stuyvesant, the autocratic director of the Dutch colony. The struggle between these two strong-willed men laid the foundation for New York City and helped shape American culture. <b>The Island at the Center of the World</b> uncovers a lost world and offers a surprising new perspective on our own. 1473201 2004 The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America total:583|5:190|4:262|3:110|2:17|1:3| 583 2368 1068 157 2 2 true false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Oct 26 22:10:38 -0700 2008 Wed Nov 19 12:26:37 -0800 2008 1. As S...more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Dec 26 13:44:37 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 26 13:53:44 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 1 false false Thu Dec 25 10:55:20 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 25 10:18:34 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 25 10:55:20 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 13 15:47:35 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 13 15:54:30 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Dec 20 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 28 02:44:18 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 28 03:25:49 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 05:33:53 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 05:42:37 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Sun May 10 07:54:07 -0700 2009 Sun May 10 08:21:16 -0700 2009 This is a current favorite book. I can't believe it's five years old already.


I'm a lifelong resident of the Hudson River Valley in southern New York State, an hour's commute from downtown Manhattan. And the publishing of this book coincides with a peak in my curiosity about the first European ...

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" . . . this book invites you to do the impossible: to strip fro...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Apr 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 04 14:55:09 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 04 15:01:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Aug 13 09:15:09 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 09:25:35 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Sep 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 04 17:44:38 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 27 08:48:40 -0700 2009
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For anyone interested in ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Nov 07 06:49:08 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 07 08:35:54 -0800 2008 1, so far History Of trade paperbacks over the last few years. They're almost always monographs, for starters and each one is very careful to explain how it gestated for years in the airless chamber of its author's ostensibly dogged obsession with the ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Fri Jan 04 07:37:46 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 04 07:56:16 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 22 20:31:50 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 22 21:01:26 -0700 2007 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 21 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 05 15:58:59 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jan 31 11:53:30 -0800 2007 Thu Feb 01 10:39:49 -0800 2007 more...]]>