5 Books To Read By Author James Horn

My fascination with author James Horn began with a book called “Adapting to a New World” in which he cast the early Virginia colonists not as ‘instant Americans’ (just add Chesapeake water!) but of Englishmen and women who had transplanted their cultural mores from the old country to their new home.

This single premise has been missed by many an unwary author reflecting on early colonial times who have given into the all-too-common slant of inanely comparing the Virginia Colony to the Massachusetts Bay Colony – a dichotomy of differences in which the Virginians are seen as anathema to their righteous northern counterparts – basically the origins of the North / South divide. Here’s where we rectify that.

Here are 5 books to read by author James Horn

1. “Adapting To A New World”

James Horn, being English-born, sees the English settlement of Virginia with a different set of eyes than do most American scholars, and by that I mean that his view is probably much closer to what the colonists were thinking than what we “Americans” tend to romanticize about our version of the past. The hard truth is that the original settlers that made our great nation what it is were, in fact, Englishmen and women!

“Adapting to a New World” cuts through all of that rhetorical dissonance and gets down to the heart of the matter that the Chesapeake Bay in the 17th century was modeled after the English towns from which all of its immigrants came. Without understanding that, you understand nothing about colonial Virginia.

2. “A Land As God Made It” by James Horn

Author James Horn breaks another barrier with “A Land As God Made It” paying homage to the story behind the settling of the Jamestown Colony in 1607. It’s a landmark treatment of why this primordial settlement took several disastrous attempts to even get started, and how it all began. The brilliance of Horn’s writing is that he seems to have an uncanny ability to get inside the minds of the characters of the time and translate their thoughts into terms that we can understand. His scholarship in this book is like having a time machine with subtitles!

3. “A Kingdom Strange” by James Horn

One of the most mysterious of all settlement stories is the story of the lost Roanoke Colony. This colony predates even that of the Jamestown Colony by several decades and involves the names of a few great explorers such as Sir Walter Raleigh. “A Kingdom Strange” is an immensely important read on this subject which more than just brings out the evidence as to what eventually happened to the lost colonists, but does it so in a thought-provoking and germane manner. James Horn’s treatment of this subject is far superior to that of author Lee Miller’s publication which I found to be factual yet entirely lackluster. You should pick up James Horn’s “A Kingdom Strange.”

4. The Writings of Captain John Smith

As I was standing in the Jamestown Museum bookstore scratching my head contemplating an entire book display that had about 10 different books on the subject of the life and journal of Captain John Smith, I finally asked the shopkeeper his advice on which one to choose. He chuckled under his breath, reached down for this little gem and studiously handed it to me.

To my utter amazement and joy I saw the name James Horn amongst the authors! As I eventually learned, there are many other publications out there, most of which are John Smith’s journals in raw form with no commentary. Unless you’re an expert on the subject and versed in ancient scribble, good luck reading those! This one is ace because it is a distilled version that includes scholarly commentary in all the right places that aid you in deciphering Captain Smith’s notes, thoughts, terminology, and motivations. This is a beautiful addition to any colonial collection.

5. “The Revolution of 1800” by James Horn

Things were changing fast in early America and James Horn, et. al. take an all-inclusive approach at understanding the founding of our national thought in this book called “The Revolution of 1800.” It’s really neat in that it takes into account much more than the base narrative of standard revolutionary doctrine by focusing on the fact that even at the turn of the 19th century America was in no ways a complete nation just yet. The Revolutionary War had been won, but what next? The best part about this book is that it was published at the University of Virginia and I got to visit that campus!

Check out James Horn’s Amazon Homepage.

Check out my READING VIRGINIA post!