American Colonies

Excellent narrative of the formation of the various colonies and the consequences of each action taken by country or colonist or Native American on the environment and on one another.

Really interesting thematic overview of the colonization of North America and the island nations. The chapters on New Mexico in particular were fascinating as that's a whole part of history I don't remember reading about at all. I read this as a companion piece to 1491 and while there is some overlap, ie Cahokia and the Mississippi peoples, it works really well as an augment to that book. The chapters on religion and how flawed our perception is of America as a place of religious freedom was super thought provoking.