"Astonishing . . . A book that will permanently alter the way we regard our collective past." –
The New York Times
"A tour de force. . . . The dramatic story of New York's origins is splendidly told. . . . A masterpiece of storytelling and first-rate intellectual history." –
The Wall Street Journal "As readable as a finely written novel. . . . social history in the Barbara Tuchman tradition."
–San Jose Mercury News
"Literary alchemy. . . . Shorto's exhaustively researched and highly readable book is a stirring re-examination. . . . Brilliant and magisterial narrative history" –
Chicago Tribune "Masterly . . . A new foundation myth . . .Shorto writes at all times with passion, verve, nuance and considerable humor." –
The New York Times Book Review "Rattlingly well told-a terrific popular history about a past that beautifully illuminates the present." –
The Sunday Times [London]
"A dramatic, kaleidoscopic and, on the whole, quite wonderful book. . . . This is one of those rare books in the picked-over field of colonial history, a whole new picture, a thrown-open window. . . . [A] full-blooded resurrection of an unfamiliar American patriot." -
The New York Observer "Deserves to be a bestseller . . .narratively irresistible, intellectually provocative, historically invaluable" -
The Guardian "A spry, informative history. . . . Shorto supplies lucid, comprehensive contexts in which to see the colony's promise and turmoil. . . . [D]elivers the goods with clarity, color and zest." -
The Seattle Times
"As Russell Shorto demonstrates in this mesmerizing volume, the story we don't know is even more fascinating than the one we do . . .Historians must now seriously rethink what they previously understand about New York's origins . . ." -
The New York Post
"Russell Shorto fires a powerful salvo on the war of words over America's origins . . . he mounts a convincing case [that], in Shorto's words, 'Manhattan is where America began.' Readers . . find themselves absorbed in what can only be described as a plot, revolving around two strong men with conflicting visions of the future of Dutch North America." -
America: The National Catholic Weekly "Fascinating. . . . A richly nuanced portrait set against events on the world stage."
–Time Out New York "Shorto brings this . . . deeply influential chapter in the city's history to vivid, breathtaking life [with] a talent for enlivening meticulous research and painting on a broad canvas. . . . In elegant, erudite prose, he manages to capture the lives of disparate historical characters, from kings to prostitutes." -
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Remarkable. . . . [C]ompulsively interesting. . . . . Shorto argues that during the brief decades of its Dutch colonial existence Manhattan had already found, once and for all, its tumultuously eclectic soul." -
New Statesman "Shorto delineates the characters in this nonfiction drama convincingly and compellingly." -
Fort Worth Star-Telegram "[An] absorbing, sensual, sometimes bawdy narrative featuring whores, pirates, explorers and scholars. With clarity and panache, Shorto briskly conveys the complex history of the age of exploration." -
Times Literary Supplement "Shorto's book makes a convincing case that the Dutch did not merely influence the relatively open, tolerant and multicultural society that became the United States; they made the first and most significant contribution." -
American History "Shorto's prose is deliciously rich and witty, and the story he tells-drawing heavily on sources that have only recently come to light-brings one surprise after another. His rediscovery of Adriaen van der Donck, Peter Stuyvesant's nemesis, is fascinating." -Edward G. Burrows, coauthor of
Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History
"A landmark work . . .Shorto paints the emotions and attitudes of his characters with a sure hand, and bestows on each a believable, living presence." -
The Times (London)
"A triumph of scholarship and a rollicking narrative . . . an exciting drama about the roots of America's freedoms." -Walter Isaacson, author of
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
