The Birth of the Nation is certainly not the type of book I would normally read: a history about the beginning of the English colonization of Virginia and the United States. However, I have a project to write a shortened version of the establishment of the United States. Gutenberg.org had this volume and so I read it as speedily as I could.
Inside there is a tale of drama and death. Topics like Pocahontas and her romance with Captain John Smith are explained.
The book is not written in a clearly chronological order. Some dates are given. But they are not always clear when the story shifts, which has made using it for research something of a challenge. But there are some nice descriptions within which definitely give the reader an idea of how hard life was, and how hard the people trying to settle Jamestown were.
Pryor writes, "After Lord Delaware landed with his accessions to the colony, 900 persons had been sent from England to Virginia, of whom 700 had perished.(292) In 1619 it was estimated that 2540 immigrants had landed at Jamestown, of whom 1640 had died." That is the hell of a mortality rate.
The men who were sent were greedy, violent, and lazy, to name just a few of their attributes. If not for Pocahontas, I find it somewhat likely that the precarious hold onto this piece of land might have been lost. Although, no doubt England would have established posts with or without Jamestown. She wasn't about to give up.
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