New England Bound

Slavery and Colonization in Early America

By: Wendy Warren

Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley

In a work that fundamentally recasts the history of colonial America, Wendy Warren shows how the institution of slavery was inexorably linked with the first century of English colonization of New England. While most histories of slavery in early America confine themselves to the Southern colonies and the Caribbean, New England Bound forcefully widens the historical aperture to include the entirety of English North America.

Using original research culled from dozens of archives, Warren conclusively links the growth of the northern colonies to the Atlantic slave trade, showing how 17th-century New England's fledgling economy derived its vitality from the profusion of ships that coursed through its ports, passing through on their way to and from the West Indian sugar colonies. What's more, leading New England families like the Winthrops and Pynchons invested heavily in the West Indies, owning both land and human property, the profits of which eventually wended their way back north. That money, New England Bound shows, was the tragic fuel for the colonial wars of removal and replacement of New England Indians that characterized the initial colonization of the region.

©2016 Wendy Warren (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A much-needed correction in the perception of slavery, this work will be enjoyed by those interested in the history of colonial North America and the transatlantic world."( Library Journal)

Very well documented history

This book does a good job of presenting a powerful story based on specific details from letters, registers, public records, and other historical documents. The introduction includes the author's opinions, but once you get into the book, there's very little preaching. There doesn't have to be, because the facts speak for themselves. While viewing themselves as godly people, the Puritans did things like buying cargoes of rotting fish very cheap to feed to the enslaved people, and ordering enslaved men to impregnate unwilling women in order to produce more property. No need for comment: it was what it was.

A real eye-opener.

For those Americans who thought they knew how horrible Slavery was in the Southern States in the 1700’s and 1800’s and thought this ghastly institution somehow originated and took root only there thanks to the supposed agricultural and economic requirements of the region, this book will be a real shocker. It’ll also make you think twice as you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner and not just because their friendly relationship with the Indians was a myth. At least the plantation owners in the South weren’t hypocritical about it... they were just wrong and immoral about the bondage, use and treatment of other humans for their own benefit and profit. The English settlers who fled to New England to seek religious freedom, some calling themselves “Puritans,” kept African Slaves from the very beginning of the New England Colonies, but mostly so they could be served hand and foot and demonstrate how upper class and rich their families were. However, these unfortunate humans, many of them captured in village raids by Africans in that aweful business, were in fact the lucky ones, if that can be said. The real unlucky ones were sent to the Caribbean sugar plantations such as Barbados... a surefire literal death sentence. For the Native Americans who didn’t particularly welcome the incursion or their treatment, thousands got a one-way ticket to the Caribbean too, and were never heard from again. This book will rock your understanding about Slavery in America. Magnificently well documented, it will lead you to your own conclusions. It’s not a slam on the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving as we see so much of these days, but it will give you pause next time you hear about all the terrible things the early New England Colonists had to endure.

great work

excellent account of slavery as it took place. it's good to know all aspects of history. the more the better

Don't waste your time or money

What disappointed you about New England Bound?

The writing is painful. Quit trying to sound fancy - just tell the damn story.

What was most disappointing about Wendy Warren’s story?

You can write about slavery without re-assuring everyone every other sentence that you think it's deplorable. GEEZ, enough already with the moralizing. It's supposed to be a history book, not a Sunday school lesson.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

So dramatic. Gag.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from New England Bound?

All of it.

Any additional comments?

I wish I had a physical copy so I could burn it.

Sarcasm makes the painfully truth even more painful

Yes, we need to know this painful truth about our national origins. If only the writer and the narrator could resist the urge to rub the salt of sarcasm into our collective wounds.