Contrasting Perspectives on Early American Development

Historical events, their development, and their ramifications are often the purview of contrasting opinions. The development of America is on such example of contrasting views. Within Eric Nellis’, an Associate Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia and author of several books on American history, book An Empire of Regions: A Brief History of Colonial British North America and Steven Sarson’s, a senior lecturer at University of Wales, Swansea and a fellow of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, book British North America 1500-1800 two contrasting views of America’s development. Both explore the same era, and same region but provide contrasting views and different breadths of information. They both centre around the development, and independence of the New World colonies in the period between about 1500 to 1800. Both Nellis, and Sarson present well researched, and articulated, albeit contrasting views on America’s development from part of the British Empire to independence. They have different breadths of information, organizational structures, and influencers resulting in different views and understandings

Both Nellis, and Sarson fill this obligation in their writings and do so convincingly. Both demonstrate extensive use of primary sources in their writings as well as a variety of secondary sources. Throughout British America 1500-1800 Sarson uses phrasing directly from primary sources to illustrate his points. Sarson supports his use of primary sources with an array of secondary sources such as journals, encyclopedias, and books ranging from before 1950 to the mid-2000s. Overall, Sarson has a wide variety of both primary and secondary sources demonstrating a well-researched, and informed