America's Beginnings: The Dramatic Events that Shaped a Nation's Character
America's Beginningsbreathes new life into many of the people responsible for creating and implementing the fundamental principles and virtues of our republic. Tony Williams transports the reader back through a beautiful and rugged landscape and fills it with stories of the 17th and 18th century Americans whose lives gave structure, direction, and meaning to our shared national narrative. Williams' stories provide a primer on courage, perseverance, and optimism that will serve today's citizens well. (Michael Hartoonian, Scholar in Residence at Hamline University, St. Paul)Tony Williams has produced a succinct, entertaining, and informative book on 50 of the key events in early America. Easily accessible to young readers as well as experts, Williams bolsters his narrative with spicy quotations and important facts, never losing the big picture that America was . . . and is . . . exceptional. (Larry Schweikart, co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller,A Patriot’s History of the United States)Tony Williams'America's Beginnings: The Dramatic Events that Shaped a Nation's Character, is a well written and highly readable collection of vignettes that will whet the appetite of budding historians. (Alf J. Mapp Jr., author of Faiths of Our Fathers: What America's Founding Fathers Really Believed, The Virginia Experiment, and Thomas Jefferson: Passionate Pilgrim)America’s Beginningstells the story of what Declaration of Independence signer Richard Henry Lee called “the vineyard of liberty.” Like the making of a fine wine, the success of the early American republic was far from inevitable. Tony Williams compellingly captures the difficulties and triumphs of early Americans. He tells of our beginnings with appreciation for the extraordinary accomplishments of the American Founders. This is civic-minded history at its best, and offers rich reading for citizens young and old alike. (David J. Bobb, Hillsdale College Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship)What were the 50 most important events of the colonial and revolutionary era? A new book published by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and Rowman & Littlefield Publishers surveys the top 50, from the Lost Colony of Roanoke to the passage of the Bill of Rights. Written by historian Tony Williams,America’s Beginnings, the Dramatic Events that Shaped a Nation’s Character”guides readers throughout the colonies, introducing figures such as John Smith, John Winthrop and the Founding Fathers while also examining the principles that turned subjects of a king into citizens of a free and independent nation. (The Virginia Gazette)Teachers of beginning courses in U.S. history and their students might find encouragement for their work.(Teaching History)