| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.3

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Comparative/World

Stephen J. Hornsby. British Atlantic, American Frontier: Spaces of Power in Early Modern British America. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England in association with the Center for American Places, Santa Fe, N. Mex. 2005. Pp. xv, 307. Cloth $60.00, paper $29.95.
Stephen J. Hornsby offers a sweeping synthesis of the history of the English and later British presence in North America and the Caribbean from first incursions in the fifteenth century until the eve of the American Revolution. His book's framework is geographic, relying on contrasts between the Atlantic (defined as maritime and commercial) and the continent (land based and agricultural). It calls to mind the more encyclopedic works of Donald Meinig, and like Meinig's corpus, this volume draws together a vast secondary literature, making sense of it from a geographical perspective.	1
Hornsby posits variations among the British-controlled regions that he argues determined the course of their history. He divides "Early Modern British America" into three types of regions. "Atlantic Staple Regions" include Newfoundland, the West Indies, and the Hudson Bay. All produced a highly valued staple (whether fish, sugar, or furs). All were closely connected to the metropolis through their dependence on trade and the relatively transient nature of their populations. "Continental Staple Regions" produced a staple commodity, including cod from New England, tobacco from the Chesapeake, and rice from the Carolinas. These regions were less closely linked to Britain, however, because their products were less lucrative, their economies somewhat more diversified, and their populations more committed to the colony in which they resided. "Agricultural Frontiers" made up the last major region, encompassing New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and the southern backcountry. Least connected of any part of the empire, these areas were oriented toward the continental interior rather than the Atlantic world. Finally, colonial towns completed this geography, creating in some cases vibrant centers for trade and local political leadership.	. . .

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