Captain John Smith - (Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American Histo) by Karen Ordahl Kupperman (Paperback)

About the Book

Captain John Smith: A Select Edition of His Writings

Book Synopsis

Captain John Smith was one of the most insightful and colorful writers to visit America in the colonial period. While his first venture was in Virginia, some of his most important work concerned New England and the colonial enterprise as a whole.

The publication in 1986 of Philip Barbour's three-volume edition of Smith's works made available the complete Smith opus. In Karen Ordahl Kupperman's new edition her intelligent and imaginative selection and thematic arrangement of Smith's most important writings will make Smith accessible to scholars, students, and general readers alike. Kupperman's introductory material and notes clarify Smith's meaning and the context in which he wrote, while the selections are large enough to allow Captain Smith to speak for himself. As a reasonably priced distillation of the best of John Smith, Kupperman's edition will allow a wide audience to discover what a remarkable thinker and writer he was.

From the Back Cover

An explorer and adventurer, Jamestown colonist John Smith was one of the most insightful and colorful writers to visit America in the colonial period. While his first venture was in Virginia, some of his most important work concerned New England and the colonial enterprise as a whole.

Review Quotes

"A most useful compendium that so attractively distills John Smith's writing that some will want to go on to explore the three-volume edition that was the great accomplishment of Philip L. Barbour." -- Journal of Southern History

About the Author

Karen Ordahl Kupperman is professor of history at the University of Connecticut and author of Settling with the Indians: The Meeting of English and Indian Cultures in America, 1580-1640 and Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony.