Trung, 1

The clash of cultures at Jamestown

Review by Roger Bishop The story of the Jamestown colony the first permanent English settlement in the New World is familiar to most of us, but it has often been hard to separate the facts about the colony from myth !ombining a gift for storytelling with meticulous scholarship, historian "avid # $rice sorts reality from legend in his splendid new boo%, Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Heart of a New Nation #t the center of $rice&s narrative is the clash of cultures between the newcomers, led by !aptain John 'mith, and the natives, represented by !hief $owhatan and his daughter $ocahontas (ost of the original colonists had come e)pecting to find riches, but instead found themselves victims of disease or *ndian attac% 'mith believed it was important to understand the language and culture of the natives and to use a combination of diplomacy and intimidation to %eep $owhatan&s tribes from crushing the colonists +e was no less strict with the settlers themselves, during his brief presidency of the Jamestown council, 'mith made it clear that those who didn&t wor% wouldn&t eat *n 1-1., a /eneral #ssembly was established in Jamestown, and broad0based property ownership was introduced, both 1critical milestones on the path to #merican liberty and self0government,1 $rice points out Just after the close of the #ssembly&s first session, in a strange historical coincidence, the first ship of #fricans landed in Jamestown #lthough historians differ on their original status, $rice suggests these #fricans may have had the legal position of indentured servants 1*t is too unbelievable to credit, but nonetheless true, that #merican democracy and #merican slavery put down their roots within wee%s of each other,1 notes the author #lthough he would never achieve an official position in the colony to match his talents, John 'mith&s contribution to the founding of #merica e)tended far beyond Jamestown +is 1-23 account of the new colony was the first to reach the public This engrossing narrative of the settlement and 'mith&s role in it is superbly done Roger Bishop, a Nashville bookseller, is a regular contributor to BookPage. This spar%ling boo% retells a beloved tale in modern terms Journalist $rice&s subtitle suggests that the boo% might be only about John 'mith and $ocahontas4who 1crossed into one another&s cultures more than any other Englishman or native woman had done14as well as about $ocahontas&s eventual husband, John Rolfe 5ortunately, the boo% ranges more widely than that $rice relates the entire riveting story of the founding of 6irginia 'mith is of course at the center of the tale, because rarely did a colonial leader so bountifully combine e)perience, insight, vision, strength of character and leadership s%ills to overcome e)traordinary odds But no one will come away from this wor% without heightened admiration also for the natives, especially !hief $owhatan, and greater %nowledge of the introduction of a third people, #frican slaves, into the !hesapea%e The boo%&s leitmotif is the interaction of differing cultures and men, li%e the British gentry, whom 'mith scorned for refusing to adapt to hard colonial labor, and the wily *ndians, who resorted to starving out the colonists and in 1-77 massacred many of them *f there&s a fault in a wor% built unobtrusively on the best scholarship, 1

Trung, 7 it&s $rice&s insistence that we see 6irginia principally as a place that rewarded courage and hard labor4 for white men4in the service of self0advancement and personal liberty 'uch a place it was But it was also for all participants a site, at the start of the nation&s history, of danger, horror and death This is a splendid wor% of serious narrative history 7 maps BOMC, QPB and History Book Club alternates. Oct. !"#

Pros:Excellent account of the founding of Jamestown, our first permanent settlement Cons:Few The Bottom Line: A thoroughl entertaining account of the !"#"$s first settlement and of John #mith, its first great man

Everyone %nows the Nina, $inta, and 'anta (aria 5ew can identify three other historical ships, the 'usan !onstant, /odspeed, and "iscovery 8et those names should not be the answer to a trivia 9uestion *n 1-2-, they carried men to Jamestown, the first permanent settlement in what became the :nited 'tates The early #merican history taught schoolchildren passes over Jamestown, moving 9uic%ly north to New England (assachusetts& first settlers were fleeing religious persecution Entire families made the voyage bent on establishing self0sufficient communities that lived by religious principles They suffered but soon thrived and invented Than%sgiving 'erious historians tell a more comple) story of the founding of New England, but the version we learned in school encourages patriotic feelings This is definitely not the case with Jamestown, because it was founded by nincompoops Journalist "avid $rice does a fine ;ob telling the story, a mi)ture of incompetence, horror, and heroism The Jamestown colony was a business venture financed by the 6irginia !ompany of <ondon *ts goal was to find gold, silver, and other riches supposedly present in that region #lso, because no one %new the e)tent of the continent, the company aimed to find a trade route by river through 6irginia to the $acific +aving adopted this impressive program, the company proceeded to hire the wrong people There were few s%illed craftsmen, and half the hundred and five men =all men> belonged to the upper class and too% for granted they would do no manual labor? several brought servants @n the plus side, they were under orders to be nice to the natives who would supply food in e)change for beads and %nives #rriving in #pril, 1-2A, they found no riches and no path to the $acific $redictably, the *ndians in whose territory they settled were unfriendly (ore distant tribes behaved unpredictably 'ome were happy to trade, but the naive English leaders, an)ious to win them over, were too generous with trade goods This inflated the currency, ma%ing it difficult to ac9uire food for a hundred men *n June, two ships sailed for home With the departure of the sailors who had performed most of the manual labor, a strange apathy overcame the men "espite starvation rations, they made only feeble 7

Trung, B attempts to organiCe a dependable food supply, build shelters for winter, or discourage *ndian raids By 'eptember half were dead of disease, *ndian attac%s, and starvation *t&s a gruesome story, and worse followed Everyone has heard of John 'mith, but $rice ma%es a convincing case that he was not only the first great man in : ' history but also a thoroughly admirable character Without 'mith, Jamestown would have failed @nly twenty0si) when the e)pedition sailed, he was a career soldier, a ten year veteran who had campaigned across Europe from the Netherlands to Romania This e)perience proved invaluable when he was put in charge of obtaining supplies at the low point of that starvation summer :nli%e other English leaders, 'mith was accustomed to dealing with foreigners both as comrades and adversaries :nli%e them, he dealt with the natives as real people, not as symbols of primitive evil or virtue With impressive s%ill, he %ept them at bay using a mi)ture of bluff, diplomacy, and occasional strong0arm tactics #maCingly, when one considers the record of European settlers, he never %illed anyone <argely through his efforts, the adventurers obtained enough food to survive the winter They also owed a great deal to $ocahontas, an *ndian princess who showed a puCCling fascination for 'mith and the English This produced a romantic legend but eventually led to disaster for her people Elected leader the following year, 'mith guided the settlement through another difficult winter The following spring the company dismissed him in favor of a nobleman +e sailed for England in the fall of 1-2., never to return <earning of 'mith&s departure, the *ndians became less cooperative When the first ship arrived at Jamestown the following spring, its five hundred inhabitants had dwindled to si)ty0odd s%eletal survivors who staggered out of their crumbling cabins, begging for food 8ou might thin% this convinced the <ondon !ompany of 'mith&s value, but that only happens in the movies *t merely won them over to 'mith&s pragmatic approach They gave up their search for treasure, sent settlers willing to settle, and passed out land Tobacco turned out to be a highly profitable crop, and it guaranteed the colony&s survival 'mith yearned to return to the new world, but, e)cept for one e)ploratory voyage to New England in 1-1D, he never succeeded +e volunteered to lead the $ilgrims in 1-72, but they chose (iles 'tandish <ove and +ate in Jamestown is $rice&s first boo%, but he does a masterful ;ob with a massive amount of material 'mith himself wrote half a doCen boo%s (any adventurers %ept diaries, wrote letters to their families, and denounced each other to the head office in <ondon $rice creates a vivid portrait of their personalities and conflicts Better, he e)plains how early seventeenth century Europeans viewed the world, and how they were viewed by the *ndians who watched them pour in #mateur historians do better recounting events than getting inside the heads of people who didn&t thin% li%e we do But $rice has done his homewor% * opened the boo% e)pecting to fill in some gaps in my %nowledge, but it turned out to be one of the most entertaining histories *&ve read this year 1<ast year * went on a family vacation to 6irginia We stayed in an antebellum home overloo%ing the James River #s part of our trip, we visited the historical site of Jamestown, which was truly a pleasure since * have such an interest in #merica history * wandered around the gift shop of the Jamestown museum and one boo% in particular4<ove E +ate in Jamestown4caught my eye RecogniCing my B

Trung, D own ignorance of much of the details of the Jamestown saga * decided to read what "avid # $rice had to say about a pivotal moment in our nation&s history before it was our nation <ove E +ate in Jamestown is a great boo% *ts brevity is certainly a strength for many readers who aren&t willing to dedicate wee%s and wee%s, hours and hours reading about one particular topic #t the same time, the boo% doesn&t feel as if it&s being unfair to the personalities and events it discusses * would have li%ed some additional details at various points in the boo% and was disappointed when the author moved in another direction so 9uic%ly, but the complaint is minor seeing as how there is a multitude of boo%s on the same topic which could enrich my %nowledge even more of this important time "avid # $rice does a wonderful ;ob, in my opinion, of being fair while dealing with some very harsh realities between the colonists of Jamestown and the &savages& in their midst *t reminded me so much of reading Nathaniel $hilbric%&s (ayflower as he described the pilgrim&s interactions with the natives in (assachusetts There were faults, misunderstandings, civility, incivility, %indness, and brutality from both sides The treatment of the Native #mericans during the coloniCation era can be politically charged, but <ove E +ate in Jamestown leaves most of the politics behind and allows the reader to merely observe <ove E +ate in Jamestown is very much worth reading, and * would recommend it without hesitation *t&s not burdensome to read, and it reveals a fascinating part of #merica&s past before it was #merica <ove E +ate in Jamestown is a fine choice for any Thousander&s list 1 <ove and +ate in Jamestown, John 'mith, $ocahontas and the +eart of a New Nation "avid # $rice 5aber and 5aber Fpounds sterlingG72 22 vii H B2I pages *'BN 20IA10772.30B This title, first published in the : ' last year by Jnopf, traces the history of the first permanent English settlement, Jamestown, in 6irginia which began in 1-2A #fter a brief historical introduction the author follows the colonists from <ondon as they set sail in 1-2- and then traces their adventures in the New World Wherever possible he uses original sources The central figure in his history is, inevitably, John 'mith, who emerged as the leader of the first settlement (r $rice pays especial attention to the relationship =much e)aggerated> between 'mith and $ocahontas There was no romantic involvement and she was simply the young daughter of the chief and someone who helped 'mith and his fellow Englishmen +e sees in 'mith the prototype of the modern #merican and with suitable and predictable patriotic flourish he sees in 'mith&s virtues the &heart& of what would become the :nited 'tates, &individualism, practicality, disdain for class ran%, and esteem for those who wor%ed hard to get ahead&