In this introduction to his large-scale work The Peopling of British North America, Bernard Bailyn identifies central themes in a formative passage of our history: the transatlantic transfer of people from the Old World to the North American continent that formed the basis of American society. Voyagers to the West, which covers the British migration in the years just before the American Revolution and is the first major volume in the Peopling project, is also available from Vintage Books. "Mr. Bailyn brings a new vividness, authenticity and excitement to the story of the settlement of North America....He sees the past in a more lively and human fashion, and in sharper detail, than have most previous historians....This is a rich canvas of a great folk-wandering over two centuries .... If the Introduction is any guide to what is to follow, the volumes to come will be treasure houses indeed."

-- Esmond Wright, The New York Times Book Review

"With a spare and delicate genius, [Bailyn] sketch[es] out the fiendishly complex essentials of a world where 'everything seems strange close up.'... Bernard Bailyn's work has the grandeur of a Braudel and the humanity of a Michelet. And he's got to the roots."

-- Gwyn A. Williams, The Guardian