This Country of Ours

by H. E. Marshall

Overview

This book tells the history of the United States, starting with European explorers rather than the Native Americans who had been inhabiting the region we now name North America for generations. The book describes the achievements of the brave, clever, and powerful men (and a few women) who founded the colonies that later developed into the states that eventually gave rise to the current nation.In general, it paints the Native Americans as barbaric, uncivilized, and vicious. As you read, consider why it could be crucial for a white lady of European ancestry to write for children in England or the US to view Native Americans in this manner. What does it reveal about the people, the country, and the terrain at the time? H.E. Marshall, the author, wrote from a Protestant point of view. Nothing in her writing implies that she intentionally set to be anti-Catholic, but it is clear that her Protestant background and her sense of the truth had an impact on her writing. The advantages of adopting this book exceed any drawbacks, which can be quickly resolved by debate and careful editing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9788826404868
Publisher:	Qasim Idrees
Publication date:	02/28/2018
Sold by:	StreetLib SRL
Format:	eBook
File size:	903 KB

About the Author

Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall (usually credited as H. E. Marshall (1867-1941) was a British author, particularly well known for her works of popular national history for children. She was born in Bo'ness, Scotland, and her father was John Marshall JP, an earthenware manufacturer. She was educated at a girls' boarding school called Laurel Bank, in Melrose. Between 1901 and 1904 she was the superintendent of a hall of residence for female students at Glasgow University, but, otherwise, she appears to have made her living throughout her life by writing. She was unmarried. As is made clear by the Prefaces of her books from time to time, she travelled extensively after 1904, including to Melbourne, California and China, although her obituary in The Times stated that she spent most of her life in Oxford and in London, where she died. H. E. Marshall is famous for her 1905 children's history of England, Our Island Story: A History of England for Boys and Girls, illustrated by A. S. Forrest. In the USA the book was entitled An Island Story. The book was a bestseller, was printed in numerous editions, and for fifty years was the standard and much-loved book by which children learned the history of England. However a lot of this book is historically inaccurate, much of it uses Shakespeare's plays for historical sources, like the section of Richard III is really a summary of the play.[citation needed] The book is still to be found in schools and homes, but the last printing was in 1953 and it went out of print in the 1960s. In 2005, an alliance of the Civitas think-tank and various national newspapers brought the book back into print, with the aim of sending a free copy to each of the UK's primary schools. Readers of The Daily Telegraph contributed £25,000 to the cost of the reprint.