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Love and Hate in Jamestown”, written by David A. Price, is an incredible novel that accurately relates the experiences of the early settlers of the Chesapeake, particularly Jamestown. He accomplishes this by recounting both major and minor events of the first years of the Virginia colony, using a wide range of sources, unbelievably specific details, and a relatively succinct style of writing that still manages to leave one with a good understanding of each event overed.!
Price’s work gives the reader a good, in-depth understanding of what really transpired in the very beginnings of the colonial era. He did this by covering as many recorded events with any sort of relevance or historical significance as he possibly could. He writes about the major events, the ones every seems to have some vague idea of, such as the Starving Time, or the (mis)adventures of John Smith, or Pocahontas. In the case of these more well-known affairs, he either supports or disproves what he believes to be commonly known about them.
For instance, he explains how, contrary to popular belief, there was probably no mutual romantic relationship between Pocahontas and John Smith (although he does mention the possibility of Pocahontas being enamored of Smith) due to the simple fact that Pocahontas was around eleven years old at the time of Smith’s first interaction with her people. ! Price also covers less known, but still significant occurrences. He talks about the journey over to the New World, and what the sailors and settlers dealt with on some of the islands that they stopped at along the way, such as the
Hippomane mancinella on Nevis and the oddly dressed Caribs on Dominica. He discusses the first skirmish with the Wowinchopuncks, where a company Of 1 00 possibly hostile armed Indians and their chief, whose reason for visiting was unknown, engaged in a brief, unplanned scuffle with the English settlers, before retreating angrily.! When researching events that took place more than a century in the past, it can be difficult to find good, reliable sources. However, price has no shortage of them.
From the firsthand accounts of John Smith himself to the various nknown witness accounts he used, Price eloquently inserts quotes into his writing, using them as support for his arguments and as a means of providing information in a more interesting and believable manner. He frequently uses the aforementioned accounts of John Smith, who, despite his grammar school education, believed that writing was just as important as fighting, as well as the accounts of fellow settlers, such as Percy, Archer, and Newport.
Additionally, he often analyzes the reliability of his sources, and sometimes ffers multiple perspectives on events in which there is no unbiased account, like the impeachment of Wingfield.! Given that this all transpired over 400 years ago, the detail that Price is able to provide is nothing short of extraordinary. He offers detail on everything from the exact time of Don Pedro de Z??iga’s meeting with King James (two o’clock in the afternoon, October 7, 1607), to the height of John Smith (apprx 54), to the exact number of bushels of wheat traded for copper by the Indians, to Pocahontas’ dying words (“All must die.
Tis enough that the child liveth. “). He also gives details on the language and customs of the Native Americans. For instance, he discusses the value that they place on their canoes, which they painstakingly carve from logs to navigate the rivers. He also includes some of the Algonquian words that John Smith and his company learned, such as mamantowick (chief of chiefs) and wingapoh (friend).! ! Price summarizes a few decades in 320 pages, which is no small feat, especially considering the in-depth understanding the reader is afforded.
As previously tated, he writes about a great many significant, and some not-so-significant, events, and provides exceptional detail on most of them. His concise and comprehensive style of writing follows an almost chronological sequence of events, beginning with the departure Of the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery in 1 606 and ending with Opechancanough’s last attack in 1644, lucidly describing them, the reasons for them, and the details of them. It is a rare ability to be able to write both succinctly and comprehensively, yet it is clearly one that David Price possesses.