This is the abridged version of Jordan's monumental White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550–1812. Only 200 pages and well-written, this book continues to provide a provocative starting point for the exploration of racism in America.

This classic exploration of Jamestown and colonial Virginia attempts to explain the evolution of a colony paradoxically committed to both slavery and freedom.

Kupperman challenges the tendency to treat Jamestown as the dark underside of American colonial development. Placing it alongside a number of English initiatives at the beginning of the 17th century, she argues that colonial Virginia provided a testing ground for English expansion and that the lessons learned at Jamestown benefited the colonies that followed.

Written by an anthropologist, not a historian, this interesting book explores the culture, society, and economy of the Native Americans that greeted English settlers in Jamestown. Within the more interesting sections, Roundtree explores the Native Americans' religious beliefs, political structures, and understanding and methods of war.

John Smith was truly a larger-than-life character. His short but critical role in Jamestown's early history is nicely explored in this book. Those interested in a narrowly focused biography will be disappointed by the equal space given to the development of the colony, but overall, this is an interesting, useful, and highly readable book.