British colonial America : people and perspectives / John A. Grigg, editor.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [247]-263) and index.

A lost world and a world of loss: Native Americans and British colonists before 1700 / Martha Robinson Squanto -- "A mean and brutal business": indentured servitude in early America / Matthew Harris -- Puritan life / Michael S. Carter -- "A loving mother and obedient wife": white women in colonial America / Kirsten E. Phimister -- Slave life in colonial America / Kathryn S. Koo -- Urban workers / Karen O'Brien -- "A variety of peoples": the non-English composition of British America / Ian J. Aebel -- Native America, 1700-1775 / Dixie Haggard -- "Great multitudes flocking after him" : the great awakening among common people / John Howard Smith -- The margins of empire : Anglo-American westward migration and settlement in the colonial period / David P. Dewar -- Primary documents.

This insightful set of essays reveals the day-to-day lives of the British colonists who laid the foundation for what became the United States. The period between the settling of Jamestown and the Revolutionary War saw the establishment of the American colonies, conflicts with Native Americans, and the wrenching break from Britain. History books often focus only on the leaders and famous personalities, but what was life like for the ordinary citizens or the loyalists, who opposed breaking with Britain? British Colonial America: People and Perspectives shifts the spotlight away from the famous political and religious leaders of the time to focus on colonial residents across the full spectrum of American society from the early-17th to the late-18th century. In narrative chapters filled with biographical sketches, British Colonial America explores the day-to-day world of the religious groups, entrepreneurs, women and children, laborers, farmers, and others who made up the vast majority of the colonial population. Coverage also includes those not afforded citizenship, such as African slaves and Native Americans. It is a revealing examination of life at ground level in colonial America, one that finds the people of that time confronting issues that appear throughout the American experience. - Publisher.