Building the British Atlantic World - (H. Eugene and Lillian Youngs Lehman) by Daniel Maudlin & Bernard L Herman (Paperback)

About the Book

"Spanning the North Atlantic rim from Canada to Scotland, and from the Caribbean to the coast of West Africa, the British Atlantic world is deeply interconnected across its regions. ... studying the interplay between physical construction and social themes that include identity, gender, taste, domesticity, politics, and race, the authors interpret material culture in a way that particularly emphasizes the people who built, occupied, and used the spaces and reflects the complex cultural exchanges between Britain and the New World"--

Book Synopsis

Spanning the North Atlantic rim from Canada to Scotland, and from the Caribbean to the coast of West Africa, the British Atlantic world is deeply interconnected across its regions. In this groundbreaking study, thirteen leading scholars explore the idea of transatlanticism -- or a shared "Atlantic world" experience -- through the lens of architecture, built spaces, and landscapes in the British Atlantic from the seventeenth century through the mid-nineteenth century. Examining town planning, churches, forts, merchants' stores, state houses, and farm houses, this collection shows how the powerful visual language of architecture and design allowed the people of this era to maintain common cultural experiences across different landscapes while still forming their individuality.

By studying the interplay between physical construction and social themes that include identity, gender, taste, domesticity, politics, and race, the authors interpret material culture in a way that particularly emphasizes the people who built, occupied, and used the spaces and reflects the complex cultural exchanges between Britain and the New World.

Review Quotes

"Adds a fresh body of work to an ever-growing discussion regarding material history and the British Atlantic World." -- Material Culture

"Astute essays that shed light on unexamined corners of the British Atlantic material past." -- Journal of American History

"Draws upon expertise from diverse fields, including art and architectural history, material culture, historical geography, folklore, and environmental history, to explore the multifaceted meanings that buildings and spaces held for New World colonists." -- Winterthur Portfolio

"Prompt[s] readers to acknowledge the ways that colonists and colonized peoples helped to define commonalities in a shared British culture as well as local derivations from it." -- Panorama

About the Author

Daniel Maudlin is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Plymouth. Bernard L. Herman is George B. Tindall Distinguished Professor of Southern Studies and Folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.