The Island At The Center Of The World: The Epic Story Of Dutch Manhattan And The Forgotten Colony That Shaped America

Description

In a landmark work of history, Shorto presents astonishing information on thefounding of our nation and reveals in riveting detail the crucial role of theDutch in making America what it is today.

Reviews

"Astonishing . . . A book that will permanently alter the way we regard our collective past." --"The New York Times
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"A tour de force. . . . The dramatic story of New York's origins is splendidly told. . . . A masterpiece of storytelling and first-rate intellectual history." --"The Wall Street Journal
""As readable as a finely written novel. . . . social history in the Barbara Tuchman tradition." "--San Jose Mercury News
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"Literary alchemy. . . . Shorto's exhaustively researched and highly readable book is a stirring re-examination. . . . Brilliant and magisterial narrative history" --"Chicago Tribune"
"Masterly . . . A new foundation myth . . .Shorto writes at all times with passion, verve, nuance and considerable humor." --"The New York Times Book Review
""Rattlingly well told-a terrific popular history about a past that beautifully illuminates the present." --"The Sunday Times "[London]
"A dramatic, kaleidoscopic and, on the whole, quite wonderful book. . . . This is one of those rare books in the picked-over field of colonial history, a whole new picture, a thrown-open window. . . . [A] full-blooded resurrection of an unfamiliar American patriot." -"The New York Observer
" "Deserves to be a bestseller . . .narratively irresistible, intellectually provocative, historically invaluable" -"The Guardian
""A spry, informative history. . . . Shorto supplies lucid, comprehensive contexts in which to see the colony's promise and turmoil. . . . [D]elivers the goods with clarity, color and zest." -"The Seattle Times
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"As Russell Shorto demonstrates in this mesmerizing volume, the story we don't know is even more fascinating than the one we do . . .Historians must now seriously rethink what they previously understand about New York's origins . . ." -"The New York Post
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"Russell Shorto fires a powerful salvo on the war of words over America's origins . . . he mounts a convincing case [that], in Shorto's w

Author description

Russell Shorto is a contributing writer at the "New York Times Magazine," and the author of two previous books: Gospel Truth, about the search for the historical Jesus, and""Saints and Madmen, about psychiatry and religion. The hub of his research for The Island at the Center of the World was the New Netherland Project at the New York State Library, where the archives of the Dutch colony centered on Manhattan are being translated. He lives in New York's Hudson Valley with his wife and their two daughters.