A New York Times Notable Book and aSan Jose Mercury News Top Nonfiction Book of In approximately British colonists sailed to America seeking gold and a trade route to the Pacific Instead they found disease hunger and hostile natives Ill prepared for such hardship the men responded with incompetence and infighting only the leadership of Captain John Smith averted doom for the first permanent English settlement in the New WorldThe Jamestown colony is one of the great survival stories of American history and this book brings it fully to life for the first time Drawing on extensive original documents David A Price paints intimate portraits of the major figures from the formidable monarch Chief Powhatan to the resourceful but unpopular leader John Smith to the spirited Pocahontas who twice saved Smiths life He also gives a rare balanced view of relations between the settlers and the natives and debunks popular myths about the colony This is a superb work of history reminding us of the horrors and heroism that marked the dawning of our nation.
