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The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and...
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Located in: Burlington, New Jersey, United States
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eBay item number:335365663100
Item specifics
- Condition
- Release Year
- 2004
- ISBN
- 9780385503495
- Book Title
- Island at the Center of the World : The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
- Item Length
- 9.6in
- Publisher
- Doubleday Religious Publishing Group, T.H.E.
- Publication Year
- 2004
- Format
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- Item Height
- 1.2in
- Genre
- Biography & Autobiography, History, Political Science
- Topic
- American Government / Local, United States / State & Local / Middle Atlantic (DC, De, Md, NJ, NY, Pa), United States / Colonial Period (1600-1775), General, Historical
- Item Width
- 6.5in
- Item Weight
- 27.3 Oz
- Number of Pages
- 400 Pages
About this product
Product Information
In a landmark work of history, Russell Shorto presents astonishing information on the founding of our nation and reveals in riveting detail the crucial role of the Dutch in making America what it is today. In the late 1960s, an archivist in the New York State Library made an astounding discovery: 12,000 pages of centuries-old correspondence, court cases, legal contracts, and reports from a forgotten society: the Dutch colony centered on Manhattan, which predated the thirteen "original" American colonies. For the past thirty years scholar Charles Gehring has been translating this trove, which was recently declared a national treasure. Now, Russell Shorto has made use of this vital material to construct a sweeping narrative of Manhattan's founding that gives a startling, fresh perspective on how America began. In an account that blends a novelist's grasp of storytelling with cutting-edge scholarship,The Island at the Center of the Worldstrips Manhattan of its asphalt, bringing us back to a wilderness island-a hunting ground for Indians, populated by wolves and bears-that became a prize in the global power struggle between the English and the Dutch. Indeed, Russell Shorto shows that America's founding was not the work of English settlers alone but a result of the clashing of these two seventeenth century powers. In fact, it was Amsterdam-Europe's most liberal city, with an unusual policy of tolerance and a polyglot society dedicated to free trade-that became the model for the city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan. While the Puritans of New England were founding a society based on intolerance, on Manhattan the Dutch created a free-trade, upwardly-mobile melting pot that would help shape not only New York, but America. The story moves from the halls of power in London and The Hague to bloody naval encounters on the high seas. The characters in the saga-the men and women who played a part in Manhattan's founding-range from the philosopher Rene Descartes to James, the Duke of York, to prostitutes and smugglers. At the heart of the story is a bitter power struggle between two men: Peter Stuyvesant, the autocratic director of the Dutch colony, and a forgotten American hero named Adriaen van der Donck, a maverick, liberal-minded lawyer whose brilliant political gamesmanship, commitment to individual freedom, and exuberant love of his new country would have a lasting impact on the history of this nation.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Doubleday Religious Publishing Group, T.H.E.
ISBN-10
0385503490
ISBN-13
9780385503495
eBay Product ID (ePID)
6021854
Product Key Features
Book Title
Island at the Center of the World : The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Topic
American Government / Local, United States / State & Local / Middle Atlantic (DC, De, Md, NJ, NY, Pa), United States / Colonial Period (1600-1775), General, Historical
Publication Year
2004
Genre
Biography & Autobiography, History, Political Science
Number of Pages
400 Pages
Dimensions
Item Length
9.6in
Item Height
1.2in
Item Width
6.5in
Item Weight
27.3 Oz
Additional Product Features
Lc Classification Number
F128.4.S56 2004
Reviews
Praise forThe Island at the Center of the World "Russell Shorto's dramatic adventure tale about the settling of Manhattan will transform the way we look at American history. The Dutch colony, founded just three years after the Puritans landed in Massachusetts, quickly became the gateway for Germans, Italians, Jews, Scandinavians, Africans, and others who created the pluralistic mix that would define a new nation. Shorto's book recounts the fascinating struggle between Peter Stuyvesant and the lesser-known but more influential Adriaen van der Donck, whose appreciation for individual tolerance laid the foundation for our Bill of Rights and helped to create our national character. It's also the story of the remarkable age of exploration led by Henry Hudson and others who spread the culture of the European Renaissance to a distant wilderness. Based on a wealth of documents that archivist began translating forty years ago, Shorto has produced both a triumph of scholarship and a rollicking narrative. The result is an exciting drama about the roots of America's freedoms." -Walter Isaacson, author ofBenjamin Franklin: An American Life "The Island at the Center of the Worldranks among the best books ever written about New Amsterdam, the Dutch settlement on Manhattan that would become New York City. Shorto's prose is deliciously rich and witty, and the story he tells-drawing heavily on sources that have only recently come to light-brings one surprise after another. His rediscovery of Adriaen van der Donck, Peter Stuyvesant's nemesis, is fascinating." -Edwin G. Burrows, coauthor ofGotham: A History of New York City to 1898, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History, Praise for The Island at the Center of the World "Russell Shorto's dramatic adventure tale about the settling of Manhattan will transform the way we look at American history. The Dutch colony, founded just three years after the Puritans landed in Massachusetts, quickly became the gateway for Germans, Italians, Jews, Scandinavians, Africans, and others who created the pluralistic mix that would define a new nation. Shorto's book recounts the fascinating struggle between Peter Stuyvesant and the lesser-known but more influential Adriaen van der Donck, whose appreciation for individual tolerance laid the foundation for our Bill of Rights and helped to create our national character. It's also the story of the remarkable age of exploration led by Henry Hudson and others who spread the culture of the European Renaissance to a distant wilderness. Based on a wealth of documents that archivist began translating forty years ago, Shorto has produced both a triumph of scholarship and a rollicking narrative. The result is an exciting drama about the roots of America's freedoms." -Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life "The Island at the Center of the World ranks among the best books ever written about New Amsterdam, the Dutch settlement on Manhattan that would become New York City. Shorto's prose is deliciously rich and witty, and the story he tells-drawing heavily on sources that have only recently come to light-brings one surprise after another. His rediscovery of Adriaen van der Donck, Peter Stuyvesant's nemesis, is fascinating." -Edwin G. Burrows, coauthor of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History
Copyright Date
2004
Target Audience
Trade
Lccn
2003-055227
Dewey Decimal
974.7/102
Dewey Edition
21
Illustrated
Yes
Item description from the seller
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eBay item number:335365663100
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| Free shipping | United States | Standard Shipping (USPS Ground Advantage®) | Estimated between Thu, May 9 and Sat, May 11 to 43230 |
| US $9.00 (approx C $12.31) | United States | Expedited Shipping | Estimated between Wed, May 8 and Fri, May 10 to 43230 |
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Product ratings and reviews
Most relevant reviews
- Aug 11, 2020Top favourable review
Great Book
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-OwnedSold by: betterworldbooks
- Mar 13, 2019
Great book, great subject. Eminently readable history...!
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-OwnedSold by: thrift.books
- Feb 23, 2024
Extremely interesting! Well written.
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-OwnedSold by: second.sale
- Jul 25, 2017
New York history
Verified purchase: Yes
- Feb 22, 2010
Imaginative and compeling intro to the contents.
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