The Island at the Center of the World (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Russell Shorto
- First Published: 2004
- Type of Work: History
- Time of Work: 1608-1664
- Setting: Eastern seaboard of America from Albany, New York, to Delaware Bay, but primarily the island of Manhattan
- Principal Characters: Charles Gehring, Henry Hudson, Willem Kieft, Peter Minuit, Joris Rapalje, Peter Stuyvesant, Catalina Trico
- Genres: Nonfiction, History
- Subjects: New York, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Colonies or colonization, New York City, England or English people, Seventeenth century, Islands, Netherlands or Dutch people
- Locales: Manhattan, NY, East (U.S.), Albany, NY
The primary claim of Russell Shorto's The Island at the Center of the World is that the Dutch colony of Manhattan, by transplanting the religious tolerance, the acceptance of a multi-ethnic population, and the promotion of free trade from its home country, produced a set of values that helped to create the upwardly mobile society that would become New York City and that these values would eventually form the basis of American culture. This claim runs counter to the more traditional one that asserts that American culture in its earliest stages was largely established by the...
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