The brittle thread of life : backcountry people make a place for themselves in early America / Mark Williams.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Williams, Mark, 1948-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Land settlement--Connecticut--Granby (Town)--History.

Social classes--Connecticut--Granby (Town)--History.

Rural poor--Connecticut--Granby (Town)--Social conditions.

Country life--Connecticut--Granby (Town).

Land settlement--Massachusetts--Ashfield (Town)--History.

Social classes--Massachusetts--Ashfield (Town)--History.

Rural poor--Massachusetts--Ashfield (Town)--Social conditions.

Country life--Massachusetts--Ashfield (Town).

Granby (Conn. : Town)--History.

Ashfield (Mass. : Town)--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (279 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The colonists who settled the backcountry in eighteenth-century New England were recruited from the social fringe, people who were desperate for land, autonomy, and respectability and who were willing to make a hard living in a rugged environment. Mark Williams' microhistorical approach gives voice to the settlers, proprietors, and officials of the small colonial settlements that became Granby, Connecticut, and Ashfield, Massachusetts. These people-often disrespectful, disorderly, presumptuous, insistent, and defiant-were drawn to the ideology of the Revolution in the 1760's and 1770's that stressed equality, independence, and property rights. The backcountry settlers pushed the emerging nation's political culture in a more radical direction than many of their leaders or the Founding Fathers preferred and helped put a democratic imprint on the new nation. This accessibly written book will resonate with all those interested in the social and political relationships of early America.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Prologue Nothing for History to Say?

SALMONBROOK

HUNTS TOWN

Epilogue A Hazardous State and Condition

Notes

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612352027

9781282352025

1282352024

9780300156423

0300156421

OCLC:

646846905