Reference Reviews

Reference for Students

Colonial America from Settlement to the Revolution. Edited by Rodney P. Carlisle and J. Geoffrey Golson. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC*CLIO, 2007. 1 vol. 366 p. $85.00. ISBN 10: 1-85109-827-5; 13: 978-1-85109-827-9.

Students who are interested in the evolving fictional genre of "alternative history" will be interested in this slender volume of case studies of the 13 original colonies. The introduction lists questions a teacher could ask readers to consider if a different action had happened or if a key player had acted differently. To make sure that students are not confused between history and the alternative history, alternatives are placed in grey boxes. Each essay begins with a question to be considered. This is followed by an introduction to set the stage. A key concept is presented and then the Turning Point, the actual history, another view, the context, and finally, an alternative history. Essays close with discussion questions specific to the essay and a brief bibliography. The appendix has a 15-page chronology of Colonial America, an 8-page glossary, and 5 pages of resources including books, journals, the Internet, colonial tourism sites, historic districts, and museums. Your creative American history teachers may want you to hide this from students until assignments are finished and then have them see if anyone else chose that particular alternative history. They will certainly be pleased with having a starting list of discussion questions.