Group Review
Becky Henderson, Derek Arnold, Jared Houston, Kevin Repp, Matt Carlson
Pursuits of Happiness: The Social Development of Early Modern British
Colonies and the Formation of American Culture
In Pursuits of Happiness Jack Greene, the author, attempts to compare the colonies of the
Chesapeake region with those of New England, as well as England itself and earlier colonial
settlements. Greene focuses on social development, examines European and African settlement
patterns, and digresses from some generalities that other historians discuss about the American
colonies. Greene argues that the social and cultural convergence between New England and the
other regions of colonial British America were actually more similar to their parenting society of
England than they ever had been before the American Revolution. He asserts that the notable
features of an emerging American culture during this time were not only found in New England
Puritanism, but in almost all the cultural behavior that was evident throughout British North
America.
Within the context Greene primarily compares the colonies of New England to that of the
Chesapeake region. There are other minor comparisons with Old England and earlier colonies,
but the primary focus is with the two main colonies of the new world. In writing about these
colonies, Greene focuses on three major points in his work. First Greene evaluates the
importance of the New England colony and its significance to the development of other
settlements. Another point is to compare the different experiences of colonists in different
colonies and lastly Greene points out the emerging American culture that was being developed in
these colonies and how it would relate to future events. This American culture is very diverse in
that it comes from not just one place, but from four main influential regions, the Chesapeake,
New England, the Middle Colonies, and the Lower South.
It appears that Greene's primary focus is to compare and contrast the two main developing areas
of the Chesapeake and New England. This is evident in his evaluation repeated times of the two
areas and what makes them different. He states that the Chesapeake was secular, materialistic,
and competitive with a relatively high mortality rate. New England in contrast was very
religious, family based, and its low mortality rate made it possible for rapid growth and
expansion. In supporting his ideas of the colonies he focuses mostly on social development of the
colonies and looks for patterns to support his main points as well as references from numerous
sources.
With the reservations you hold about the style or quality of writing that Greene used in the
Pursuits of Happiness it is obvious that the information he has included is historically accurate.
To further this point I would have to agree with William and Mary Quarterly that, "It would be
difficult to find a fuller, more convincing structural history of the colonies..." In this book Greene
went to great lengths to examine every aspect of social and cultural life in the Chesapeake
region. He starts with the classic models of English colonization and then deeply analyses the
colonial lifestyles in the 1600 and 1700's.
To look at the historical accuracy of Greene's book we have to look at the resources he used to
write it. With about a quarter of a page of citation per page he definitely did his homework. He
looked deeply into the formation of the American culture and developed a historically accurate
work to convey his points. I believe that he may have been too worried about cramming so much
historical evidence into this book that he neglected the flow and readability.
The first is a question of the author's voice or lack thereof. The book certainly has a "veritable
mountain of scholarship" but very little of the author's actual opinions are mentioned apart from
a very brief prologue. The many references by scholars certainly gives the book credibility, but
they also cause the author to appear detached and unsure of his own opinions, which brings up
another issue with Greene's book: the author seems unsure of his own opinions. His thesis is
clear enough but throughout the book it becomes more unapparent why he feels this is important.
Is he trying to exonerate the stigma of the south and their aristocratic landholders? Is he
condemning both the north and south for fighting the bloodiest war in American history when
both sides were more alike than they imagined? Or does he just think it's an interesting point?
Whatever Greene's reasons behind writing the book, they are not made clear on its pages.
Finally, the book itself is entirely impersonal. With mountains of scholastic essays and literature
to draw from, Greene never once speaks outside of the vastly general. When he talks about the
decline of Puritan New England, the reader has to take his word for it as he gives no examples
and offers no primary documentations of the events that he is discussing. This makes the book
dry and ineffective.
In conclusion, Jack Greene's Pursuits of Happiness leaves something to be desired. Though
informing and historically accurate, the amount and quality of reflection and personal research
seems to be lacking. Greene relies heavily on the work of other authors and historians for his
research, negating a certain level of credibility that many authors carry through extensive
research and reflection. The fifty-four pages of notes and references don't help, and instead of
creating an air of well-backed research, makes reading Pursuits of Happiness a tedious task of toand-fro flipping and tenuous spare research to establish credibility. Greene's conclusion that each
style of early-American colony cycled towards the tendencies of others in time, though
seemingly sound, may not have warranted the authorship of another history on early American
colonies and their development. His comparisons to other colonies, such as those of the Bahamas
and West Indies, establish only his knack for comparative research as opposed to reflective.
Valuable information concerning the differences and similarities of the Chesapeake Bay and
New England colonies is available, but reflection concerning the importance, just as so much
else in Greene's work, is not.