Four British Folkways in America (America - a cultural history)

This book is a must for genealogy buffs. I found it enthralling to find out some cultural history from a different perspective. The author did a magnificent job of tracing folk ways, accents and more to let us know the ancestors from which we come.

I was so very pleased with the book. Also pleased with how quickly it arrived. This book is a must for anyone wanting to know how we and our ancestors did some of the quirky things they did. Also makes the history of our people so close to home. I am still enjoying the book. Thank you.

Although completed in the 90's this scholarly analysis holds up today.
The redundancy and language are mildly annoying, but the rewards are worth the effort.
It has given me some appreciation for two American cultures that have always been a challenge for me.

For anyone interested in the interaction between early British regional cultures and the founding settlements of America, Hackett's book is essential reading. It's a fine research and exposition of events that you imagine that you understand but really don't .
On finishing it I couldn't look at the United States ( or Great Britain ) the same way again.

I found this book to be an absolute treasure trove and ideas and insights. Since I have ancestors from all four groups covered in this book, Puritans, Quakers, Virginians and Back country Scotch-Irish it has been very useful for me in understanding my family background.

The author covers all sorts of ideas - including how people in different regions cooked, how they disciplined their children, their religious beliefs and how it impacts their political thought.

If you want to know more about your English ancestors this is a good place to start.

Way above my expectations!! Fantastic book! Anyone who is interested in history or genealogy should read this one. I can 't believe I had not read it years ago. Couldn't put it down, still going back and reading parts of it.

very interesting thought and presentation of the 4 major groups of immigrants from England. The different language patterns are obvious, but the other parts of the culture are even more important - and they are presented in detail.

As part of my genealogical research, I discovered I have deep roots in early Colonial Virginia. I downloaded "Albion's Seed" to learn more about the culture of my early ancestors. My only complaint about the Kindle version is the index is not linked to the main book! I was hoping I could click on an index item and go to the subject in the book. Now, I need to buy a used paperback copy so I can utilize the index. Is this a flaw in all Kindle books, or just this one?

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and look forward to American plantations, the next volume. I wonder if he overemphazises the determination of culture by ancestral folkways.

I live in Australia whose earliest white settlers were a mixed bunch of criminals and shiftless vagabonds, followed by transported Irish rebels. These were guarded by a brutal and rather corrupt military force. I t was simply a place to dump the unwanted.In the latter half of the 19th century free settlers began to arrive but nevertheless the omens were not good for the emergence and growth of a prosperous and relatively peaceful society and a well functioning democracy.

Nevertheless that is what we have become. According to Mr. Fischer we should have become a rabble, like the backcountry in the US South

A couple of quibbles. On Page 878 the author states that Dwight Eisenhower was born in ABILENE,Texas. I thought that Abilene was in Kansas unless I am wrong or there are two Abilenes.
Secondly, elswhere he states that Texas longhorns are edescended from "North British' cattle. I have always been told that they are the descendants of cattle which the Spanish ahad brought to Mexico.

Albion's Seed is definitely worth the read for those who are interested in the Colonial period of North America, specifically the United States. There are several interesting facts that Fischer sprinkles throughout his book and these facts help explain some of the attitudes that are still held in the New England area. This is not an easy read, though. Fischer is wordy and does not connect several sections of the book together with his thesis. It is definitely more of a reference book than any other type. It is receiving 4/5 stars, because it is definitely a well-written, if difficult to read, educational tome.

Turning the "Turner thesis" somewhat on its ear this work is every bit as groundbreaking as it is hyped to be. I have seached and struggled for years to explain regional differences with no satisfaction until now. Four separate and distinct sections of the east were settled at different times by four very distinct British "tribes" which adapted uniquely to their new environments. The meddling materialist yankee, the bland egalitarian Quaker, the dignified cavalier and the untamed rebel are dissected and evaluated from every significant social angle. This is social history at its best.

And why not. Fischer even has the stones to write a book entitled "Historians' Fallacies" which I am presently reading. In it he sets out to set other historians straight on the various wrong routes they have taken. Perhaps it will explain the gaping hole in his Albion's Seed. I specifically refer to the total and complete absence of New England's role in the slave trade, and how it was developed and harnessed as the capital engine for the regions' industrial revolution. I continue to be astounded at the amnesia, blind eye or delusion that plagues even our "best" historians on the institution which, you guessed it, Fischer pretty much blamed on the Virginians.

OK, so nobody is perfect. Realize the book has this one enormous flaw and read it anyway.

This book is great for researchers and historians wanting to learn why the United States developed the way it did, culturally, politically, militarily and economically. It also would be especially useful for people who are doing research on their ancestors who came from Great Britain.

After reading some Gordon S. Wood, I've gotten more into colonial American history, so I thought I'd check this out. Turns out he has a favorable review on the back cover as well, great!
As Dan Carlin would say, I'm not a historian, just a fan of history. As a fan of history, however, I feel that it's impeccably researched. Hackett-Fischer's writing style is a little formulaic, though, so that's the reason I only gave it four stars.

This book is more like a college level text book. It's full of facts and lots and lots of them. If that's what you're looking for, this is your book. Lost in all the facts, IMHO, is a narrative of how it all translated into our history. My other criticism of this book is that it only looks at four areas of early American development. I think a much better book is "American Nations" by Colin Woodard. It looks at eleven areas of development.

Albion's Seed is a primer to this later book that, while not as fact laden, does a wonderful job of expanding upon what Albion's Seed had to add. And adds to it.

This is a great book, loaded with great details of the History and dates for the History buff. This is a book that you can read between other books as it goes into great detail, the Author did a really a good job in his research .

Very influential for a reason...apparently. Without the context of other historical/sociological thinking, I was a little put off to dig as deeply as this work requires. However, easily read casually as well. A nice foundational study with which to become acquainted with an interesting version of early American history that many may not be familiar with

I enjoy the pre-1800 history of America more than any other time period, and I love to study more than just the typical colonial and Revolutionary War histories. I was looking forward to this book, based on many good reviews. While it's an exhaustive study with a unique point of view, I had a hard time focusing, and I lost the desire to even finish the book. I wasn't expecting a lively narrative, but I was a little disappointed in that this book just couldn't keep my attention, and I didn't find it overly compelling. I respect Mr. Fischer, and I've enjoyed his other works. He obviously put a lot of time and energy in to Albion's Seed, but this one just wasn't for me.

Yawn. I just finished reading David Hackett Fischer's "Albion's Seed", and boy are my arms tired. You just try holding a 1,000-page paperback up in your bed without cracking a finger or the book's spine.

Was it worth it? Well, it was Fischer, one of my favorite authors, on the subject of American history, at which he is the best. The subject is the four cultures that made up the fabric of American society before the Revolution, and Fischer lays out his case in a clear, compelling way.

1. The Puritans - Misrepresented somewhat by modern historians but stern killjoys just the same, they settled the New England region and argued over such matters as whether it was moral to rescue a man trapped in a well on the Sabbath.

2. The Cavaliers - Wannabe aristocrats who congregated along the southern coast. Think "Gone With The Wind" without so much backtalk from the slaves. "...especially strong in Virginia, where it was reinforced by the values of an English culture that tended to be profoundly conservative in every sense - elitist, hierarchical, and strenuously hostile to social change."

3. The Quakers - Moral, high-toned, and as dry as those oats which bear their name. Believed in the inner light that led them to God, and hold up best to modern eyes despite a strenuous adversity to sex that led to the lowest birthrates and best furniture in the Americas. Founded Pennsylvania.

4. Backcountry "crackers" - See "Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel". Hard drinkers, borderline rapists, and Andrew Jackson. Cavaliers only tormented geese for laughs. The Crackers did the same to each other: "Bloodsports have existed in many cultures, but this was one of the few that made an entertainment of blinding, maiming, and castration."

Reading "Albion's Seed" made me feel more enlightened, yes, but it was hardly invigorating in the same way as Fischer's "Washington's Crossing" or "Paul Revere's Ride." It's a different kind of book, yes. You can't expect as many active verbs reading about sociology as you would with combat. But it feels more than a touch pat and stereotyped.

More problematically, it reads awfully slow, as Fischer painstakingly revisits the same subject areas with each of the four groups in turn. Long footnotes read like narrative, while narrative sections read like footnotes. Fischer walks each culture back to its English roots, drawing upon similarities that certainly resonate but hardly seem to matter. That Puritans wore the same clothes as their East Anglican forebears doesn't seem so important considering the lack of interest Puritans took in clothes in the first place.

Most frustrating is a final section where Fischer examines the impact of these four cultural groups on every U.S. Presidential election, right up to the one the year before the book was published in 1989. Fischer makes a point of saying all but two of the first 41 presidents had roots in one of the four groups, though that's less of a surprise given the dominance of English Protestants in American society than the fact Martin Van Buren slipped through. Fischer also seems to ignore the larger evidence that his four cultures have mutated quite out of recognition. Just try finding a Puritan in Boston today.

What's solid about the book is Fischer's way with a point, his ability to move quickly between subjects with his deft erudition and writerly flair, and most especially the enthusiasm he brings to dissecting the American WASP. But after a couple hundred pages the eyes glaze over, after 500 you are re-reading pages like a punch-drunk fighter in the 15th round. Save this for the shelf, but you'll enjoy it more in smaller doses on items of immediate interest.

THIS WORK CAME HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR MY RESEARCH. MY FAMILY CAME OVER ON MAYFLOWER AND SETTLED IN NEW ENGLAND AND REMAINED THERE FOR 200 YEARS. THIS BOOK PROVIDES A LOT OF INFORMATION FOR THAT PERIOD OF TIME.

I would recommend Albion's seed to history buffs. It is an excellent history of our british cultural ancestory.

the Signature of All Things is a wonderful woman's book. It combines history and a woman's inner search for satisfaction with her life. Ms Gilbert bypasses the typical reward system as designated by society--marriage, career, children. She instead focuses on living with what was given to you by expanding your horizens and not being afraid to take risks and seek new challenges.

Planted unusual item (seed)? And water, fertilized and waited weeks for it to sprout. Still no luck on any growth. I guess the British have a different technique on this new type of seeds. Will still water and wait to see if it sprouts.

Having been born in Boston, steeped in the lore of the Puritans all my youth, (yes, I have an ancestor who arrived in the Mayflower), the section on the Puritan tradition had me smiling smugly. Then I came to the hatchet job he does on the Scots-Irish of the Appalachian region, and was brought low by the dark side of Puritanical prejudice. I have now lived more of my life in Appalachia than I have in New England, and I do not recognize at all the portrait of violence and ignorance he paints of this region and the descendants its' original settlers. Ironically, many of the historical events of violence that have occurred here were precipitated by the mendacity of outsiders - big business barons from (wait for it....) New England. When I left New England I carried the Purital Prejudice with me, of course, and it took some years before I finally came to understand why I was unpopular in my new environment. This book made it all crystal clear.

Albion's Seed by Brandeis University History Professor David Hackett Fischer is the history of the four main regional migrations from Britain to North America in the 17th and 18th centuries. Professor Fischer examines each of these four migrations in great detail, describing the origin, motivations, religion, timing, and numerous cultural attitudes or folkways for dealing with everyday life, including birth, child rearing, marriage, age, death, order, speech, architecture, dress, food, wealth, and time, to cite only a few. He devotes special attention to the different concepts of liberty and freedom held by each of these four British cultural groups.

The first major wave consisted predominantly of the Puritans from East Anglia who settled in New England between 1629 and 1640, the years immediately preceding the English Civil War in which Oliver Cromwell and the Puritan army defeated and beheaded King Charles I.

The second wave consisted of defeated (or soon to be defeated) supporters of the king and the Established (Anglican) Church of England, primarily from the south and west of England, who settled in the Chesapeake Bay regions of Virginia and Maryland between 1642 and 1675.

The third wave was the migration of Quakers from the English midlands (and their religious kin from various German sects) who settled in the Delaware Valley (southeast Pennsylvania, west New Jersey, north Delaware) between 1675 and 1715.

Finally, the "Scotch-Irish", referring collectively to immigrants from the north of England, lowland Scotland, and Ulster, settled the Appalachian backcountry from Pennsylvania southwest through Virginia, the Carolinas, and into Tennessee and Kentucky from 1717 to 1775. Less homogenous in religion than the prior waves, the Scotch-Irish were a mixture of Presbyterians, the dominant group, and Anglicans, a significant minority.

Each of these four folk established an amazingly enduring culture in their region, a culture that successfully incorporated later immigrants from other origins who shared little or none of the dominant folkway that had become established in their new home. Their contrasting concepts of liberty are among the most visible today. The Puritan concept of liberty, "ordered liberty" in Fischer's terminology, focused on the "freedom" to conform to the policies of the Puritan Church and local government. The Virginia concept of liberty, "hegemonic liberty", was hierarchical in nature, ranging from the great freedom of those in positions of power and wealth down to the total lack of freedom accorded to slaves. The Quaker concept of liberty, "reciprocal liberty", focused on the aspects of freedom that were held equally by all people as opposed to the unequal and asymmetric freedoms of the Puritans and Virginians. Finally, the Scotch-Irish concept of liberty, "natural liberty", focused on the natural rights of the individual and his freedom from government coercion.

Albion's Seed was a delight to read, filled with quaint, instructive, and amusing anecdotes that reflect folkways that endure today. It should be equally appealing to those interested in defining and contrasting the cultural histories of different groups, the process and cultural impact of human migrations, the foundations of the Anglo-American world, and the different roots of the concept of liberty.

Often large paperbacks get disjointed in shipping. This one arrived in good condition exactly as described. While I would not have bought it new just because I am interested in the subject, I am thrilled to get an expensive book, at an inexpensive price.

David Hackett Fisher's Albion's Seed is an enlightening and fascinating book.

The reason it had such a powerful impact on me is because I was expecting a history book and it's not - it's an anthropology book. It is a study of nature - human nature as it arose in England and settled in America 400 years ago.

At its core Albion's Seed accepts the conservative belief that what people ARE is more important to history than what people DO. It is surprising to see this book coming from a sociology professor at Brandeis University - a place generally racially hostile to indigenous European peoples such as the English.

Albion's Seed is about the English settlers of America in the 1600s and 1700s. And it contains not a trace of hostility or condescension towards them. In the case of the Quakers of the Delaware Valley it is openly admiring - so much so that Fisher almost loses his academic detachment.

In addition to the Quakers who emigrated from the North Midlands fleeing persecution, it studies the Puritan Congregationalists who settled New England from East England seeking to create a perfect society; the royalist elites from the South of England who left because of population pressure and formed Virginian society; and the war-like, clan-like families from the English/Scottish border fleeing famine and persecution who settled the American backcountries.

Fisher brilliantly and deeply describes the varied folkways of these people and (especially in the case of the English/Scotch border folk) how those ways arose from the history of their homeland. In America they were free from the pressures of England - but they brought their nature and culture with them and carved out unique, successful, and cultured societies in the new world.

This book is deeply researched and thoroughly footnoted. It is both scholarly and easy to read. I highly recommend it to anyone who believes that history changes - but people do not.

Hackett Fisher, David (1989). Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. This is a deep cultural history of four major groups who immigrated to the US (Puritans in New England, Quakers in PA, Cavaliers in South, Scots-Irish in Mountains). The section, “Borderlands to the Back Country: The flight from North Britain, 1717-1775,” deals with the culture of the Scots-Irish in the South and Mountains, an honor and clan culture, with feuds and self-help, with hatred of organized religion, replaced by their own Pentacostal religion. At one point, the author compares them to the “amoral familism” of Edward Banfield (The Moral Basis of a Backward Society), with loyalties which do not extent far outside the family. In a later book, Thomas Sowell (Black Rednecks and White Liberals) argues that Southern Blacks acquired this honor culture from these Southern Whites, and that it partly explains their violence, not shared by Blacks from other US regions. These, subgroups of Whites and Blacks, are the most violent groups in American life, historically and presently, and account for most of its crime and murders. Oscar Lewis found the same qualities described lower class Mexicans and Puerto Ricans, the factors common to criminals: present orientation, excessive honor, unchurched religiosity, sexual license leading to illegitimacy, early marriage and multiple divorces and affairs resulting in absent parents, animus against education, and a sense of grievance.

In general, this book deserves the high praise many have lavished on it. The breadth and sheer BULK of historical evidence is overwhelming. The cultural differences Fischer traces back to Britain can indeed still be seen as competing streams in modern American society.
The book does have a few notable weaknesses. Fischer seems to have some trouble getting a handle on the Quakers, and New York and New Jersey don't seem to fit into his four-culture scheme at all (despite the crucial role their inhabitants had in the settling of the Old Northwest). Also, while the author's drawings are satisfactory, reproductions of paintings and photos would have been preferrable.
Still, this is an impressive scholarly tour de force, and I find myself referring to it often, as a sort of field guide to the amazing varieties of English-rooted culture which is part of the common ground of American society.