Price, David A. Love & hate in Jamestown; John Smith, Pocahontas, and the start of a new nation

Kliatt, May, 2005 by Tim Davis

PRICE, David A. Love & hate in Jamestown; John Smith, Pocahontas, and the start of a new nation. Random House, Vintage. 305p. notes. bibliog. index. c2003. 1-40000-3172-9. $14.95. SA *

David Price's splendid book is an example of how narrative history should be written. Price, an experienced journalist, clearly knows how to tell a really good story. He focuses not only on the two people who stand at the mythic center of the story we all remember from elementary school--John Smith and Pocahontas--but also presents the stories of hundreds of other major and minor players in this exciting drama of early English colonization in Jamestown.

When the first 105 Englishmen arrived on three ships in 1607, with John Smith among them, the Jamestown settlers were seeking gold, a passage to the Pacific, and evidence of the survivors from the Roanoke Colony. The settlers found instead indigenous peoples, some of whom were friendly and many who were brutally hostile. The first settlers and their followers also found physical, political, and social challenges that often surpassed their imaginations and--in many cases--their capacity for survival. John Smith, in fact, survived two close calls only because of Pocahontas' intervention, although there never was any romantic connection between the two (even if Disney and your elementary school teacher told you otherwise). That any of the settlers survived at all is only part of Jamestown's remarkable story, a story powerfully and beautifully told in crisp, clear prose.

In preparing his narrative, the author relied upon a meticulously researched, extensive array of sources (included in the book's extensive bibliography and cited in more than 200 annotated endnotes). Students (and adults) will enjoy reading this book because it is so entertaining and informative, but they can also rely upon it for solid historical research. Tim Davis, Lit. & Composition Instructor, Univ. of W. Florida, FL

S--Recommended for senior high school students.

A--Recommended for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placement students. This also will help extend KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries.

*--The asterisk highlights exceptional books.