A Land as God Made It: Jamestown
and the Birth of America by James
Horn
Scholarly Yet Enjoyable To Read
Although it was the first permanent English settlement in North America,
Jamestown is too often overlooked in the writing of American history.
Founded thirteen years before the Mayflower sailed, Jamestowns
courageous settlers have been overshadowed ever since by the pilgrims of
Plymouth. But as historian James Horn demonstrates in this vivid and
meticulously researched account, Jamestown-not Plymouth-was the true
crucible of American history. Jamestown introduced slavery into English-
speaking North America; it became the first of Englands colonies to adopt
a representative government; and it was the site of the first white-Indian
clashes over territorial expansion. As we approach the four-hundredth
anniversary of Jamestown in 2007, A Land As God Made It offers the
definitive account of the colony that give rise to America.

Personal Review: A Land as God Made It: Jamestown and the
Birth of America by James Horn
Jamestown, founded in 1607, was the first permanent settlement
established by the English in what was later to become the United States.
But more attention has been given by most Americans to the 1620
founding of the Plymouth colony, partially because it is more easy to
romantically mythologize the story of the Pilgrims who came seeking
"religious freedom" than the largely commercial interests of the Jamestown
colonists.
However, the Jamestown story has its own set of myths, the most obvious
being the supposed saving of John Smith's life by Pocahontas. Horn does
an effective job of demonstrating this to be a likely falsehood. Instead
Smith is shown to be an arrogant leader who was despised by most of the
colonists and ended up returning to England a failure. He was replaced by
Sir Thomas Dale, who turned out to be a somewhat more effective leader.
But it really wasn't until the discovery of tobacco as a viable cash crop that
Jamestown became anything approaching a commercial success. Prior to
this the colonists lived on the verge of starvation, dependent on the Indians
for corn in order to survive.
But Horn also shows the high level of tension and violence that existed
between the English and the Indians from the beginning. The Powahatan
chief, Wahunsonacock, viewed the English with great suspicion that later
grew into contempt and a desire to prevent any further incursions of
English into Powahatan territory. This resulted in the Indian uprising of
1622, where hundreds of English were killed in a single day. But the
English settlers continued to arrive in ever greater numbers and the colony
was made permanent.
But this permanence was hardly inevitable. Spain was keeping a close eye
on Jamestown as well. They sent several ships up from Florida to
investigate. These were all turned back. But still the Spanish could have
likely destroyed the Jamestown colony if they had made it a more
significant priority. But they chose not to. The two primary reasons being
that they had recently concluded a peace treaty in the Netherlands and
didn't want to risk further hostilites as well as the fact that they thought it
probable that Jamestown would fail on its own without any Spanish
interference, an entirely reasonable scenario at the time.
Overall, Horn manages to tell the true story of Jamestown, sharing his vast
knowledge in a way that brings this period of history to life and captivates
the reader. I also enjoyed reading the numerous quotes he included from
John Smith and other primary sources. Perhaps some more attention
could have been paid to the arrival of slaves from Africa as well as the
distinct class differences between the colony leaders and the workers,
many of whom arrived as indentured servants. But still this is an excellent
book and comes highly recommended.

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