1: Miller's New England Mind — puritans in new england are very uptight, and then in the late 1600s, new england starts developing, puritan leaders freak out, the half way covenant does nothing to stop rising secularism

2. Bailyn's Origins of American Politics — american colonists learn from the british opposition(s) and their colonial systems are more "unstable" bc colonial governors have like no power, wider franchise, no real aristocracy.

3. Morgan's American Slavery, American Taxation: Bacon's Rebellion in VA meant that rich white planters freaked out and brought in more enslaved africans, former white indentured servants stop being whiny and find common cause with rich planters over racism and republicanism

4. Cronon's Changes in the Land: Native Americans and white colonists changed the land, but white people really fucked over (commodified) the land and didn't understand usufruct rights that native americans used

5. Mintz's Sweetness and Power: sugar moves from being a luxury and medicine to what everyone puts in their tea in britain. consumption is determined by society also the british push "free" trade = lower sugar prices (is this why people say british people have bad teeth?)

6. Crosby's Ecological Imperialism: Europeans created "new europes" across the new world because their plants and animals and diseases just ratfucked the americas

7. Morgan's Inventing the People: popular sovereignty is a lie, madison and federalists wanted only "the better sort" to take office, but the new govt. did not restrain the "excesses" of americans in the 1800s

8. White's The Middle Ground: French and Algonquian's had a sort of system to deal with each other, this broke down after Seven Years' War when the British won, the British try to bring it back because of Pontiac, but Americans after 1783 dgaf

9. Berlin's Many Thousands Gone: slavery was very bad, but also very different depending on where you were in the british colonies, and slavery changed over time too. societies with slaves different than slave societies.

10. Richter's Facing East from Indian Country: native americans were not predestined to be in conflict with white settlers, focusing on their history shows that attempts to coexist were made, but it all broke down (esp. after 1763)

11. Anderson's Creatures of Empire: native americans really did not like the animals that white settlers brought with them, as they ravaged the land, and reproduced like crazy (also fences???)

12. Mann's 1491: native americans were incredibly active in changing their environments well before europeans showed up

13. Anderson's War that Made America: didn't read this because i read Crucible of War by him - basically the French and Indian War is more important than the Revolution

14. Brown's The Reaper's Garden: even though jamaica was horrible for enslaved people, they built detailed rituals for the dead, and death is what equalizes white and black during this brutal period on sugar plantations

15. Games' Web of Empire: white english people traveled around and how they adapted and learned from the colonies helped the empire grow and teaches us about how ireland got screwed by the english

16. Tomlins' Freedom Bound: law = technology. colonizing meant recruitment of migrants, getting resources, and claiming sovereignty. local innovations in law in the colonies > what they brought over from england.

17. Greene's Constitutional Origins of the American Revolution: he's real mad at bailyn, the american colonists disliked the "constitution" of the british empire and especially the way british parliament interpreted their sovereignty. revolution was not about pamphlets.

18. Mann's 1493: just read Crosby, this is a great book, but you can just read Crosby.

19. Lipman's Saltwater Frontier: Native Americans active in the imperial fights between dutch and english in the atlantic, didn't all move westward, the ocean is useful borderland to analyze native american agency and new practices (& how practices were adopted by europeans)

20. Reséndez's The Other Slavery: native american slavery has lasted well into the twentieth century, and was instrumental in population decimation (not just disease) — esp. as practiced by the spanish mining for minerals

21. Wickman's Snowshoe Country: native americans had the technology (snowshoes) to survive north american winters, white settlers didn't, exacerbated eventual violence from english settlers, also settlers were able to change some spaces to make them deadly to native americans.

22. Gerbner's Christian Slavery: protestants in the colonies initially didn't want to convert slaves bc they believed christian beliefs made them superior, missionaries convey vision of christianity compatible with slavery, protestant supremacy changes to white supremacy (slowly)

23. Schneider's Occupation of Havana: the british occupation intensifies changes already taking place in cuba, it was already commercial and developing, however british occupation did catalyze changes in spanish empire. africans also play a critical role in occupation.

24. Peterson's City State of Boston: boston is a city state, not just a city in mass, it had its own hinterland and regional control, that all went away with economic/political developments in the 18th c. and the 1787 constitution

25. Calloway's American Rev. in Indian Country: native americans were largely screwed by the american revolution, there was also disagreement within indian communities over how to engage with whites.

26. O'Shaughnessy's An Empire Divided: the british caribbean relied on england more than the mainland colonies, and some of their trade policies/taxes helped their industries (even if some liked the notion of rebelling) they wouldn't join/support the push for independence

27. Raphael's A People's History of the Am. Rev.: the revolution didn't just involve washington and jefferson, crap ton of other people were instrumental. am. rev. top losers: pacifists, loyalists, and native americans

28. Egerton's Death or Liberty: african americans were not all for american independence, many fought for the british bc they knew americans weren't gonna free them, even slaves that were freed still faced intense racism after the rev. (even if they fought on the side of usa)

29. Bailyn's Ideological Origins of the American Revolution: pamphlets. developing ideas of liberty and rights, colonists also believe the english interpretation of the imperial "constitution" was trash, wanted real representation. gonna be honest i barely remember this book.

30. Wood's Radicalism of the American Revolution: the rev. wasn't conservative dammit! it destroyed the aristocracy and monarchy (me: i guess), also constitution couldn't stop the democracy its framers feared.

31. Rakove's Original Meanings: even the framers had no fucking clue what they were writing, scalia needs to fuckin chill

32. Maier's Ratification: federalists and anti-federalists duke it out over the bill of rights, standing army, religion, and other things, the constitution being ratified was def not a foregone conclusion.

33. Aron's How the West Was Lost: two visions of kentucky, clay vs. boone. clay's vision ends up winning. it's all about getting land and enslaving people. kentucky transitioned from "backcountry" to "settlement" to "elite dominance"

34. Nash's Forging Freedom: early 19th century philly initially had whites and blacks working together, but then racism. so philly african americans built their on institutions and networks to survive.

35. Davis' Revolutions: americans were ambivalent toward other revolutions, bc let's face it: they're scaredy-cats when it comes to real radicalism, also they don't want their enslaved populations getting any ideas

36. Cleves' Reign of Terror in America: jacobin violence in france freaks out americans, also reveals divides between republicans and federalists, federalists super afraid of violence, anti-jacobinism also influences anti-slavery rhetoric

37. White's Encountering Revolution: white americans were afraid of the haitian revolution, but they also believed their system was exceptional. enslaved peoples would draw inspiration from haiti.

i was gonna do the rest of the books, but...nah