Description: A Cultural History of the Atlantic World, 1250-1820 explores the idea that strong linkages exist in the histories of Africa, Europe, and North and South America. John K. Thornton provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the Atlantic Basin before 1830 by describing political, social, and cultural interactions between the continents' inhabitants. He traces the backgrounds of the populations on these three continental landmasses brought into contact by European navigation. Thornton then examines the political and social implications of the encounters, tracing the origins of a variety of Atlantic societies and showing how new ways of eating, drinking, speaking, and worshipping developed in the newly created Atlantic World. This book uses close readings of original sources to produce new interpretations of its subject.
Brief description: John K. Thornton is Professor of History and African American Studies at Boston University. He is the author of Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500-1800 (1999) and Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800 (Cambridge, 1992, 1998) and the co-author of Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles and the Foundation of the Americas, 1585-1660 (Cambridge, 2007) with Linda M. Heywood.
Review Quotes: 'John Thornton captures the moment Africa, Europe and the Americas came together and the new world that was created. A Cultural History of the Atlantic World [1250-1820] will be a foundation stone in the study of the Atlantic, simultaneously an entry point for novices, a reference for established scholars, and a guide for future studies. An extraordinary achievement.' Ira Berlin, University of Maryland