Starred Review of New World, Inc in Library Journal

I spent a large proportion of my twenties in libraries—in particular, the Cambridge University Library (the UL), the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the British Library (when it was still attached to the British Museum: I loved working in the North Library, wading through the old newspapers in the fabulous Burney Collection). I’ve now spent a large chunk of the past three years in libraries too—adding the wonderful London Library to my list of personal favourites.
 
So it is thrilling to receive a starred review from the preeminent library publication, the Library Journal, for my new book, New World, Inc: The Making of America by England’s Merchant Adventurers, which will be published by Little, Brown & Co on 20 March 2018.

Here it is:
 
HISTORY 
*Butman, John & Simon Targett. New World, Inc: The Making of America by England’s Merchant Adventurers. Little, Brown. Mar. 2018. 432p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780316307888. $29; 
ebk. ISBN 9780316307871. HIST 

​During the mid-16th-century, England was in economic, political, and social crisis. By 1552, English courtiers, merchants, adventurers, and financiers began planning innovative, costly, and perilous expeditions to expand trade to Asia and America in order to rival Spain, make England commercially self-sufficient, and save it from social decay. They sought new trading outposts; sources of spices, goods, and precious metals through new routes. Soon, they marketed the idea to establish a North American colony for commercial purposes, and as a safety valve, providing space and employment for criminals and the impoverished. Some ventures were moderately successful; others, tragic failures, but each was a learning experience for adventurers in pursuit of immediate wealth, who learned to consider the enduring hardships involved in establishing a new outpost or a sustainable colony. Butman (Breaking Out) and journalist Targett draw from a wealth of archival resources to argue convincingly that the commercial motive was key to English expansion into the New World. They successfully quash the 19th-century myth, manufactured by anti-slavery New Englanders, that virtuous, religious-freedom-seeking Puritans, not Southern slave-holding Virginians, were the real founders of the American Dream. VERDICT This engrossing history of adventure and innovation, disclosing the true motive for America’s founding, will appeal to all readers.—Margaret Kappanadze, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY ​