ABSTRACT
John Murrin’s essay provides an apt summary of many of the themes of this reader and an engaging overview in its own right. He begins by juxtaposing two views of colonial America: triumph or tragedy, heroic epic or nightmare? Murrin uses the findings of historical demographers to demonstrate that colonization’s human toll was mindnumbing. The world’s largest holocaust occurred in the Americas. Murrin recognizes that the interplay of cultural groups was extensive and often cooperative. Nevertheless, his summary of early Indian-white contact inspires the provocative conclusion that “Most American colonies were founded by terrorists.” And he emphasizes that the same cheap land which provided unprecedented opportunities for Europeans also led many Africans into bondage. Liberation and enslavement were flip sides of the same coin, from these perspectives, Murrin’s view of colonial America appears to be resoundingly negative. Early America was a catastrophe.
