Colonials: Design Ideas for Renovating, Remodeling, and Building New (Updating Classic America)

Book Description

Colonial is one of the most beautiful and enduring home styles, with a rich past and numerous offshoots including Georgian, Dutch Colonial, Adams style, and even Colonial Revival. This thorough guide combines outstanding designs and proven ideas for redoing an existing Colonial or building a new one. Featuring over 20 case studies of updated homes and Colonials built from scratch, the book is filled with hundreds of inspiring original color photographs and before-and-after plans.

Customer Reviews:

Great book.......2007-06-22

I think this book was exactly what we were looking for. We were creating a new front entrance, adding a garage and great room and we also resided and replaced the roof. We found plenty of great pictures that captured the style of colonial homes. I think all the ideas and pictures in this book were perfect, adding the class and style of today but with keeping the old character of this time period. Great for a coffee table book too!

"This is not your father's colonial".......2007-01-25

The author, Matthew Schoenherr, is an architect who not only admires the colonial style, he has a lot of experience with remodels, renovations and new construction. There are lots of photos, floor plans, diagrams, and useful text in this book. He covers all the basics about what makes a home a colonial. There are explanations of various styles of roofs, windows, doors, chimneys, moldings, and other details that make a house "colonial."

What is kind of odd about this book is how few of the homes end up looking really colonial after the work is finished - especially the interiors. Most of the photos show rooms with lofty and/or vaulted ceilings, banks of windows, curved doorway arches, and other stylistic anomalies. Apparently his clients like the "idea" of a colonial style home but they want a very contemporary interior. The rooms are beautiful, but they tend to look like "Martha Washington meets Judy Jetson in Tuscany" more than they resemble anything I've seen in Williamsburg, VA. This is something that goes beyond having a colonial home with a multi car garage, large bathrooms, and a spacious kitchen. Schoenherr refers to this as blending colonial design with modernism.

The book is very logically laid out. (Well, he is an architect!)

Chapter 1 discusses the history of the colonial home in America, and covers what makes a home "colonial" style. He covers everything; the Early American Saltbox, Georgian, Dutch Colonial, French Colonial, Federal and Adams style, Classical Revival, and Post WWII Colonials - even the differences between northern and southern colonials.

Chapter 2 is about remodeling an existing house. What types of additions work when you need to expand? Do you really need to expand at all? What are the planning and zoning considerations? He mentions the difficulties involved in getting the vaulted ceiling look, especially on the first floor since most colonials have two stories.

Chapter 3 deals with renovating an older colonial. There are special considerations for colonial homes that were built in the 17th and 18th centuries, such as how to hide the wiring or how to create a 21st century bathroom. There are different problems involved for someone trying to renovate a colonial home that was built in the 1950's. One interesting example shows a saltbox house believed to have been originally built in 1694. The owners were attempting to undo a series of previous renovations that had occurred over the years and, in the process, made some very interesting archaeological discoveries about their home which they have done their best to preserve.

Chapter 4 is for the intrepid soul who is building a new colonial home. You have a lot more freedom in the design when you're starting from the ground up.

Chapter 5 is entitled "A Fresh Perspective." It includes such informative subheadings as, "This is not your father's colonial" and "A new sensibility." If you're a traditionalist, take that as a warning. However, you don't have to be as "out there" with changes to your own colonial home and there is a lot of good basic information in this book.

Colonials:Design Ideas for Renovating, Remodeling, and Building New (Updating Classic America).......2006-07-10

Great inspirations and pictures that are very helpful.

Great Idea Book.......2006-06-04

Colonial style homes have been built since -- well you can guess when. Modern colonials are built to suit modern taste. That is, the kitchens are large, there is a lot of storage space, it has a multiple car garage.

But if you have or are buying an older home, it may well not have all of these modern features. This book is a picture book with a fair amount of text showing how some colonial homes have been made more contemporary in the inside without changing the classic colonial front appearance. In many cases there are additions at the rear of the house to give the desired additional room.

Some of the houses being updated really go back a while, the earliest I noted was built in 1741. The level of remodelling/updating varies from house to house, some are really extensive, some done within a smaller budget. There's even a section on building a new colonial home.

I found this to be a great idea book.

Not a book for historical taste.......2004-02-10

Readers interested in historically authentic renovations or new construction of colonial, federal or classical revival style houses will not find much of interest in this book. The houses and furnishings pictured for the most part present eclectic blends of contemporary and historic styles. I would describe many of the "colonials" pictured in the book as postmodern eclectic. A number bear no recognizable relation to the colonial style.
The text is typical of what you would see in popular shelter magazines like Southern Living or House Beautiful: pleasant, generally informative and upbeat but not very detailed, and of little interest to more advanced readers.
One should examine this book in a store rather than buying it online, because the content suggested in the title is not what the book contains.

Columbus's Outpost among the Taínos: Spain and America at La Isabela, 1493-1498

Average customer rating:

A Tremendous Example of Historical Research

Columbus's Outpost among the Taínos: Spain and America at La Isabela, 1493-1498
Kathleen Deagan , and Jose Maria Cruxent
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

Spain | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Expeditions & Discoveries | World | History | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Tainos: Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus
Archaeology at La Isabela: Spain:America's First European Town
Taino: Pre-Columbian Art and Culture from the Caribbean
An Account of the Antiquities of the Indians: A New Edition, with an Introductory Study, Notes, and Appendices by José Juan Arrom (Latin America in Translation/En Traducción/Em Tradução)
Cave of the Jagua: The Mythological World of the Tainos

ASIN: 0300090404

Book Description

In 1493 Christopher Columbus led a fleet of seventeen ships and more than twelve hundred men to found a royal trading colony in America. Columbus had high hopes for his settlement, which he named La Isabela after the queen of Spain, but just five years later it was in ruins. It remains important, however, as the first site of European settlement in America and the first place of sustained interaction between Europeans and the indigenous Taínos. Kathleen Deagan and José María Cruxent now tell the story of this historic enterprise. Drawing on their ten-year archaeological investigation of the site of La Isabela, along with research into Columbus-era documents, they contrast Spanish expectations of America with the actual events and living conditions at America's first European town. Deagan and Cruxent argue that La Isabela failed not because Columbus was a poor planner but because his vision of America was grounded in European experience and could not be sustained in the face of the realities of American life. Explaining that the original Spanish economic and social frameworks for colonization had to be altered in America in response to the American landscape and the non-elite Spanish and Taíno people who occupied it, they shed light on larger questions of American colonialism and the development of Euro-American cultural identity

Customer Reviews:

A Tremendous Example of Historical Research.......2004-05-18

I read it in three days.

A must have book for anyone interested in the Conquista and early colonization of the Caribbean and America in General. I also believe that anyone interested in the life and deeds of Christopher Columbus should read this work.

The authors' combination of archaeological excavation with documentary research is excellent and should serve as an example for future research projects. Furthermore, some of the discoveries they made will be quite unexpected and surprising for the general public, and even for those familiar with their work.

Despite the fact that both Deagan and Cruxent are highly regarded experts in Caribbean archaeology, they have written a book that can be enjoyed by the general public.

The Journal of Wong Ming-Chung: A Chinese Miner, California, 1852 (My Name is America)
Average customer rating:

California Gold Rush

A trip to The Golden Mountains

The Journal Of Wong Ming Chung

The Journal of Wong Ming- Chung

Deserves 3 1/2 stars.

The Journal of Wong Ming-Chung: A Chinese Miner, California, 1852 (My Name is America)
Laurence Yep
Manufacturer: Scholastic Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

1800s | Fiction | United States | History & Historical Fiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Colonial | Fiction | United States | History & Historical Fiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Fiction | United States | History & Historical Fiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Orphans & Foster Homes | Family Life | People & Places | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Yep, Laurence | ( Y ) | Authors & Illustrators, A-Z | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
My Name is America | Historical | Series | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0590386077

Amazon.com

It is 1852, and 10-year-old Wong Ming-Chung, or Bright Intelligence--or Runt, as he is most commonly called--has arrived at the gold mines of California after a dangerous journey from China. Exchanging the famine and war of his native country for the brutal bullies and grueling labor in America, Runt joins his uncle and countless others in the effort to strike it rich on the great "Golden Mountain." Unfortunately, he, and most of the rest of the dreamers, soon discover that there's no such thing as a Golden Mountain, only dirt, mud, and tiny, occasional flecks of gold dust--flecks that are to be turned over to the owners of the mines, in return for barely livable wages. However, someone as clever and resourceful as Runt can still find true opportunity in this land. He and his uncle team up to find ingenious new ways of making money, and to defend themselves against the bitter, racist white Americans. Along the way, Runt develops lasting friendships with many people from all over the world, learning ways to communicate with them in spite of cultural and language differences.

A thoroughly engrossing addition to the Dear America series, this historical fiction is written in the form of a diary. Laurence Yep has proven himself a master in his art, with such titles as the Newbery Honor-winning Dragonwings, among many other tales about the Chinese immigrant experience. A fictional epilogue, photos from the gold rush era, and a historical note round out this fascinating page-turner. (Ages 9 and older) --Emilie Coulter

Book Description

In 1852, during the height of the California Gold Rush, ten-year-old Wong Ming-Chung makes the dangerous trip to America to join his uncle on his hunt for a fortune. The true treasure for Ming-Chung, though, is America itself. In the midst of the lawless, often hostile environment, he is able to forge an international community of friends.

Customer Reviews:

California Gold Rush.......2007-06-15

Wong is a twelve-year-old living in China with his parents, his older brother, and his uncle in 1852. Life is sometimes very hard for the Chinese. They have to pay high taxes in order to fund their armies, who always seem to be fighting a war with someone. If their crops don't do well, they don't eat well. Some people of Wong's clan have left to go to America. There they have heard there is a golden mountain in a place called California, and they can get rich by going there and picking gold nuggets off of the ground. Indeed, the sons of those who have left to become miners do have more money and are treated better, especially by the teachers at school. Wong's uncle decides to go to California with two other men from the clan. Wong's brother wants to go as well, but their uncle says no and promises to send for him once he reaches California.

Months later, Wong's family finally gets the news that his uncle has reached California, although the two men he traveled with from the clan died on the voyage there. He wants Wong's brother to join him. Instead, Wong's parents send him.

The trip to California is difficult, crammed onto a ship with many other people and treated like animals. Once Wong reaches California he finds out that there was, in fact, a gold rush, but there is no mountain of gold and now that so many people have gone to California to find their fortunes, most of the gold is gone. The life of a gold miner is a very hard one, especially when Wong and his uncle are trying to send every penny they can home to their family in China. Making things worse are the American miners who are angry that so many foreigners have come to take the gold they think is rightfully theirs.

It was interesting to read that the gold rush affected so many different people. I thought those who went to mine were just within this country, but in this book there were people from all different countries, all coming to California to try to get rich. I liked the relationship that developed between Wong and his uncle as they worked together.

A trip to The Golden Mountains.......2005-10-25

This book is the journal of the boy, Ming-Chung, who lives in southern China. In English, his name means Bright Intelligence, although many people call him Runt. His uncle is full of bad luck, and his brother, Blessing, and Ming-Chung are scholars. His uncle goes to the gold rush to find gold. He writes back giving gold and wanting Blessing. Instead, Ming-Chung goes. Both need good luck and a good group to find gold, if they survive the stay.

This journal shows how his life was coming to California. I liked this book a lot. It showed his feelings in times that no one would know of. This journal also shows how events and laws change how they have to live. I would give it two thumbs up.

I would recommend this book to anyone. Although this book might shed a few tears, it is a book worth reading.

The Journal Of Wong Ming Chung.......2005-04-07

The Journal of Wong Ming Chung

This book is about a young miner, named Wong Ming Chung, but everyone calls him Runt. His Uncle travels to "The Golden Mountain," witch is what they call me California. Uncle is the head of the family, so what he says goes. When he's in Cali, uncle sends for Runt's brother, Blessing.

The parents decide that Blessing is too valuable to go and to California and possibly die, so they sent Runt. Uncle isn't exactly that pleased, be he lets it go. This part of the story made me really sad because Runt's friend Sunny dies on the journey. When in California, Runt and Uncle experience success, failure, and lots of snow, in witch the whole Chinese mining camp indulges in a huge snow-ball fight. All in all, this whole concept of how badly the miners treated the Chinese was very sad, although the way that the money made in mining was sent back to the family in China made me joyful. Over all, I loved the book.
San Anselmo, CA

The Journal of Wong Ming- Chung.......2003-02-12

"Big as melons!" Who would have known Uncle Stone was exaggerating

about how big the gold was going to be? The book I am talking about is The

Journal of Wong Ming-Chung, by Laurence Yep. The genre is historical

fiction.

The story takes place in two areas. In the beginning, it's in China

(year 1852) and it ends in America. Uncle Stone wanted to make a better life

for his family by getting gold. At first, everyone agreed with him, but when

they found out the ticket to America cost too much, they didn't know what

to do. Uncle decided to sell one of their lands to pay off the ticket, but the

whole family disagreed with the idea. Everyone knew Uncle was unlucky, but

since Uncle was the oldest, his word was law.

The main character is Runt (also known as Wong Ming-Chung or Bright

Intelligence). Runt was the only one out of the whole family who liked Uncle.

They got along very well and liked spending time together. When Uncle

arrived at Golden Mountain, he sent a letter home requesting for Blessing's

help. Blessing was Runt's older brother, and because of that, the family

decided to send Runt. They didn't want to send Blessing because they were

afraid he might become sick or die. They cared more about Blessing because

he was the oldest and more valuable to them. Runt was very useful at Golden

Mountain. He was very determined to dig and pan for gold, and he got paid

for writing letters.

This book was very good and descriptive. Through most of the book, I

could easily get into the story. The characters were interesting because

they had words as names. For example: Fox. Fox was the boss of Uncle Stone

and Runt. He was sneaky and brilliant. The author was also very

informational. He made the story seem real, but the book was also boring

during a few parts because it was too descriptive and informational. The

book also became confusing sometimes because there were too many

characters to keep track of. You'd get confused with all the new characters'

names and who they were and what they did. Besides that, this book is

pretty good and entertaining.

Deserves 3 1/2 stars........2002-09-04

"The Journal of Wong Ming-Chung: A Chinese Miner, California, 1852" was interesting, as I have never read a book about the Chinese Miners. At times, this book was a tad boring and the writing didn't seem realistic for an eleven-year-old boy, but nevertheless, I learned different things about the Chinese cultural. My last complaint would be for the epilogue - it could have been more specific. A good book for beginner learners of how and why the Chinese migrated to America during the Gold Rush - I recommend.

Average customer rating:

Beautiful book with perfect colour photo's
One of may favorites
wonderful visuals!!
great book on a little known subject

Dutch Colonial Homes in America
Roderic H. Blackburn
Manufacturer: Rizzoli International Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Landscape | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Netherlands | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | Home Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0847824667
Release Date: 2002-10-18

Book Description

This lavishly-illustrated volume provides an unprecedented look at twenty-eight houses (plus eleven barns and other structures) built in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by Dutch colonists in the north-eastern United States, primarily in upstate New York and along the Hudson River Valley, on Long Island and Staten Island, and in New Jersey. An authoritative work-- written by eminent experts in the field-- Dutch Colonial Homes in America explores the homes in their broader social context by focusing on the historical and religious forces of the times. This book is the first to investigate the meaning of the home and its aesthetics for the Dutch in America, and also the first to look at these homes as a form of art and craft and, importantly, the influence this form and these people had on the shape of the American house to come. The 200 spectacular new color photographs here are beautifully styled in a manner that recalls the paintings of Vermeer and evoke what might have been the ambiance of these homes hundreds of years ago.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful book with perfect colour photo's.......2005-09-25

This book provides an overview of a number of houses built by the Dutch colonist and their descendants in the former colony New Netherland. Beautiful photo's and an extensive historical description of eacht house and its area.

One of may favorites.......2005-05-19

This is one of may favorite books featuring authentic Dutch colonials.

The pictures are wonderful as well as the text.
I had no idea as to the contribution the Dutch had not only in architecture but to the development of the country.

There are many distinctions in their details. There are also many commonalities. I've been able to sort through and incorporate some simple but memorable treatments in one of my projects thanks to this book.

It's a great reference for ideas as well as history and I turn to it often as of late.

wonderful visuals!!.......2002-10-15

This book contains some of the best visuals I have seen in quite a long time. The useage of lateral light to bring out texture, color, and ambience is striking. The authors have succedded in isolating commonplace daily scenes found in everything from common humble surroundings to the grandest settings. All scenes are presented equally well, and ,most important, in a new manner- Thus allowing the contemporary viewer to more than glimpse into the past. The visuals are accompainied with an informative, very readable text to greatly aid the reader in interpretation of the scenes depicted. Well done!

great book on a little known subject.......2002-09-27

The material culture of the Dutch in America has always been misunderstood, mis-interrupted, and ignored. Now a book which gives visual evidence of the major contributions of the Dutch in the New World- how this culture in large part contributed to the newly emerging American culture and society.
This is a must read for anyone interested in early American history as well as the colonial era.

My Name Is America: The Journal Of Sean Sullivan, A Transcontinental Railroad Worker (My Name Is America)

Average customer rating:

My Name Is America: The Journal Of Sean Sullivan, A Transcontinental Railroad Worker (My Name Is America)
William Durbin
Manufacturer: Scholastic Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

The Journal of Augustus Pelletier: The Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804 (My Name is America)
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The Journal of Biddy Owens: The Negro Leagues, Birmingham, Alabama, 1948 (My Name is America)
The Journal of James Edmond Pease: A Civil War Union Soldier, Virginia, 1863 (My Name is America)

ASIN: 0439049946

Book Description

The author of the award winning The Broken Blade tells the story of a fifteen-year-old who goes to Nebraska to work on the Transcontinental Railroad with his father.

My Name Is America: The Journal Of Joshua Loper, A Black Cowboy (My Name Is America)

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My Name Is America: The Journal Of Joshua Loper, A Black Cowboy (My Name Is America)
Walter Dean Myers
Manufacturer: Scholastic Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0590026917

George Washington's Mount Vernon: At Home in Revolutionary America

Average customer rating:

A Successful Mix
A story at the heart of the republic
This book enriches our understanding of Washington.
Washington understood as an architect for democracy

George Washington's Mount Vernon: At Home in Revolutionary America
Robert F. Dalzell , and Lee Baldwin Dalzell
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation
Mount Vernon
Jefferson and Monticello: The Biography of a Builder
Jefferson's Secrets: Death And Desire In Monticello
Thomas Jefferson's Monticello

ASIN: 0195136284

Book Description

George Washington's Mount Vernon brings together--for the first time--the details of Washington's 45-year endeavor to build and perfect Mount Vernon. In doing so it introduces us to a Washington few of his contemporaries knew, and one little noticed by historians since. Here we meet the planter/patriot who also genuinely loved building, a man passionately human in his desire to impress on his physical surroundings the stamp of his character and personal beliefs. As chief architect and planner of the countless changes made at Mount Vernon over the years, Washington began by imitating accepted models of fashionable taste, but as time passed he increasingly followed his own ideas. Hence, architecturally, as the authors show, Mount Vernon blends the orthodox and the innovative in surprising ways, just as the new American nation would. Equally interesting is the light the book sheds on the process of building at Mount Vernon, and on the people--slave and free--who did the work. Washington was a demanding master, and in their determination to preserve their own independence his workers often clashed with him. Yet, as the Dalzells argue, that experience played a vital role in shaping his hopes for the future of American society--hope that embraced in full measure the promise of the revolution in which he had led his fellow citizens. George Washington's Mount Vernon thus compellingly combines the two sides of Washington's life--the public and the private--and uses the combination to enrich our understanding of both. Gracefully written, with more than 80 photographs, maps, and engravings, the book tells a fascinating story with memorable insight.

Customer Reviews:

A Successful Mix.......2000-05-08

Knowing Professor Dalzell and Mrs. Dalzell personally, I was incredibly curious to see how they blended the two seemingly connected but perhaps contrasting topics of George Washington and his home. Essentially, they were connected very successfully. The entire history of the home itself is told vividly with photographs, anecdotes, and objective descriptions of its development. Following, Washington's own personal, military, and political history is told in light of the times, and in the book's shining ability, in relation to the home itself. The Dalzell's cleverly-melded arguments and discussions leads the reader to a full knowledge of Mt. Vernon and its inspiring owner.

A story at the heart of the republic.......1998-11-13

I openned this book expecting to read a story about a house and how it was built. I was surprised, and impressed, to discover that what went on as Mt. Vernon took form was far more interesting than I had expected. This is not so much a book about a house as it is the story of how George Washington related to the slaves on whom he relied to execute his architecture. In other words, the story here reverberates far beyond the boundaries of the plantation. It went to the heart of the republic, and it goes to the heart of this nation. Slavery is encoded in our national DNA (sorry, Jefferson). The Dalzells make it clear that it is also mortared in the wood and plaster (cut and painted to look like stone) of our national edifice. Are you tormented, or at least intrigued, that a slaveowner could style himself father of a republic dedicated to freedom? Maybe Washington was, too. Find out. Visit Mt. Vernon, and do it by reading this book.

This book enriches our understanding of Washington........1998-11-03

Mount Vernon was both architecturally innovative and a true mirror of Washington's feelings and mind. He never wrote an autobiography and his diaries consist largely of farm accounts, but in Mount Vernon, the authors write, "he produced a text from which it is possible to coax a remarkably full sense of his political convictions and of how, over time, they changed." The book, George Washington's Mount Vernon, combines the public and the private sides of his life and uses the combination to enrich our understanding of both.

Washington understood as an architect for democracy.......1998-09-15

For an Architect practicing in any era since Monticello was built, it has always been easy to enter into Jefferson's process--to commune with the models and the methods he sat down with as he designed (time and again) the house that he built as a monument to his ideas and his place in history. In part, this has been because he planned and drew much as we do today. We have the drawings. We know (and can quickly avert our eyes from) the form of labor. We can hold these two-dimensional maps up to the brilliant artifact, and be satisfied, with ourselves, that we have made a connection to the past. Mount Vernon, however, has had to wait for the Dalzells to read, for us, the full and fully three-dimensional process of its becoming. This beautifully written book brings to George Washington's home, a context of meaning and National symbolism that time and distance had almost obliterated. The book is a restoration project: and as such, it is a key compliment to the preservation work so ably executed over the years by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association. I heartily recommend this book to architects (amateur and professional), their clients (who may find comfort in learning that building has always been a trial), architectural historians, or anyone at all who is curious about the faithfulness of our democracy to the designs of one of its primary draftsmen.

Homework Helpers: U.S. History (1492-1865)--From the Discovery of America Through the Civil War (Homework Helpers)

Average customer rating:

Homework Helpers: U.S. History (1492-1865)--From the Discovery of America Through the Civil War (Homework Helpers)
Ron Olson
Manufacturer: Career Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Study & Teaching | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 156414917X

Book Description

Homework Helpers: U.S. History: From the Discovery of America Through the Civil War is the latest book in the popular series designed to help students master the material and tackle the tests. It will help any student learn and remember the many facts about the people, places, and things from Columbus and his fellow explorers to Lincoln, Lee and Grant.

Rote memorization won't do it. Neither will just timelines and lists. But there are some simple tools that will make history come alive, that will enable any student to manage a vast amount of historical information.

Homework Helpers: U.S. History: From the Discovery of America Through the Civil War is a user-friendly book that will make any student—or those trying to help them—feel like he or she has a private tutor. Each chapter focuses on a major theme and explains it with a variety of diagrams, charts, and maps. Each chapter also contains detailed questions that allow students to assess how well they've mastered various concepts. Not only are the right answers to these self-study questions included, but also detailed explanations as to why the wrong answers are wrong.

Whether used as a stand-alone text or to supplement a poorly written or badly organized "official" text, each volume in the Homework Helpers Series is just what students need to boost their confidence and given them the tools they need to succeed in the most challenging classes or on the most difficult tests.

Customer Reviews:

A Good Resource with lots of details.......2000-05-02

I would recommend this book if you are looking for information about daily life in early American history. This book is divided into 8 chapters, each one focusing on a different aspect of colonial life. The author includes information about both European settlers AND Native Americans. There are lots of interesting details in each chapter. FOr example, in the food chapter, the author tells about the kinds of foods that the various groups ate and even gives some recipes for preparing some of them. There is a glossary, a bibliography, a map and an index in the back, for easier reference. Throughout the book, there are drawings and paintings of people,places and items from the colonial days. Although it does not have bright colorful illustrations or an oversized format, it should not be overlooked. Overall, I think this would be a useful and interesting book for upper elementary students up through adults.

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