The Cultural Life of the American Colonies

The New American Nation Series

by Louis B. Wright

Sweeping survey of 150 years of colonial history (1607–1763) offers authoritative, perceptive views by a brilliant scholar on agrarian society and leadership, non-English influences, religion, education, literature, drama, music, architecture, science, and much more. "A significant contribution to early American history." — American History Review. 33 black-and-white illustrations.

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction, American Revolution, Cultural

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Louis Booker Wright was an American author, educator and librarian. Wright was the director of the Folger Shakespeare Library, the author of numerous books about the American colonial period, and in 1928 he was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship.

Reviews

[p roper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't what I would call an easy read; there is too much to assimilate to just sit down and read for fun. However, it is packed to overflowing with information regarding almost every aspect of colonial life.
The beginning chapters are longer and somewhat easier to read because they seem to be more of a discussion rather than simply getting the material out which is how the ending chapters seem. Still, if a person has any interest in the colonial time period, this is a good book to read. I would suggest reading it slowly, though.
As always, it is quite interesting to read a book from which I hope to learn specifics about a time period that was written in a time obviously removed from today. This book was first published in 1957 and some of the comments are obviously dated. One of my favorites is this: "To an age accustomed as we are to daily newspapers, radio, and television, to overnight air flights between continents, and to instantaneous trans-world conversations..." I wonder what Mr. Wright would think of our communications today. I wonder what the colonists would think of our communications today.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do Not recommend. Yes, this is a reprint of a history book from 1957, which made me sad for 1957. The table of contents includes chapters on "Architecture and the Decorative Arts" and "The Press and Communications," but contains no chapters regarding childhood, families, Native Americans, African-Americans, marital life, sexuality. In short, it was missing the spice of life. And it's missing aspects of our diversity that make America truly great.

Again, it was first published in 1957, but the exhausting chapter on "Zeal for Education" contained this: "How far the early schools in New England went in the education of girls is a moot point. A large proportion of New England women were literate and they learned to read somewhere." (p. 103). And that's that. The chapter is 28 pages long but women's education gets half a paragraph.

There is one chapter worth reading here: "Books, Libraries, and Learning" which is basically a survey of what folks were reading at home in the colonial period.

[Les Irvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but somewhat dry snapshot of colonial life, marred occasionally by the author's somewhat radical opinions.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

First publication date is 1957.

[YeOldeReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Woefully, out of date.