Critics' Opinion:
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Published Oct 2008
848 pages
Genre: History, Current Affairs and Religion
Publication Information
America's close bond with Great Britain seems inevitable, given our shared language and heritage. But as distinguished historian Kathleen Burk shows in this groundbreaking history, recently published to acclaim in the United Kingdom, the close international relationship was forged only recently, preceded by several centuries of hostility and conflict that began soon after the first English colony was established on the newly discovered continent. Burk, a fourth-generation Californian and professor of history in London, draws on her unique knowledge of both countries to explore the totality of the relationship—the politics, economics, culture, and society—that both connected the two peoples and drove them apart. She tells the story from each side, beginning with the English exploration of the New World and taking us up to the present alliance in Iraq. At once sweeping in scope and intimate in detail, Old World, New World is a vivid, absorbing, and surprising story of one of the longest international love-hate relationships in modern history.
"Starred Review. Exemplary historical writing" - Kirkus Reviews.
"Burk used many archives on both sides of the Atlantic - and, though its heft may be intimidating, it is well written, with a strong narrative that reads like that of a shorter work. Highly recommended for all libraries." - Library Journal.
"There are many insights and keen perceptions here, but perhaps few surprises ....
She is surely quite right, though hardly original, in noting that many Americans saw a dichotomy between "Britain" (or indeed "Little England"), which they liked, and "Great Britain" with its empire, which they didn't. A similar dichotomy has worked the other way since 1945: appreciating American domestic qualities but disliking the global power." - The Independent (UK).
"In an age that has crassly relegated history to the lower divisions of public education, there is a crying need for books that are both accessible to the general reader and rest on serious scholarship. It helps too if they are well written, as is this book .... should be compulsory reading in No 10 and the Foreign Office." - The Times (UK)
"To tell the story of the relationship between Britain and America over five centuries is no mean feat. Burk claims in her preface that "it has never been done, not even by Churchill", who had a "much rosier view of the relationship" than she does.
In fact David Dimbleby's Oceans Apart (1988) came pretty close, but Burk expands and updates his book, ending with September 11, 2001, and the Iraq war." - The Telegraph (UK).
"The lucid, enjoyably propulsive narrative of Old World, New World is studded with arresting incidents and images that bring home the richness - and darkness - of the Anglo-American past." - The Guardian.
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