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British Atlantic, American Frontier: Spaces of Power in Early Modern British America.

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British Atlantic, American Frontier: Spaces of Power in Early Modern British America

by Stephen J. Hornsby, University Press of New England, Hanover and London, 2005, xv + 307 pp., cloth US$60.00 (ISBN 1-58465-426-0), paper US$29.95 (ISBN 1-58465-437-9).

In the serious press, reviewers are expected to declare their links (and earlier bickering) with those whose books they evaluate. Looser standards prevail in academia. Friends review friends, former students praise the works of their mentors, and fervent believers flay the ideas of their antagonists with no acknowledgment of the connections between

judgments and personalities, words and convictions. Knowing acquaintances might smile and nod or dismiss critical opinions as prejudice, but those beyond such tight circles of familiarity typically have few clues to assist them in reading between the lines of sycophantic (or disapproving) reviews. True, most academic fields are small, and few among those of us who constitute them are prepared to eschew social interaction with our peers (as George Orwell apparently did) on the grounds that personal familiarity might soften critical instincts. Still, I have to 'fess up': I have known Stephen Hornsby since he began his doctoral program at UBC about a quarter century ago. Appreciating his earlier work, I acquired, read and was impressed by British Atlantic, American...

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