Colonial America Earle, Alice M. Term Paper

The result, however, seems less scholarly, less cold and professionally aloof than similar works by other more science-minded authors. Earle, however, operates with the intent to construct a true-to-life catalogue of the things that went into making up the lives of the Colonists. Earle's research does lead the reader to trust her sources and her findings, but the writing style can still distract from the overall impact - by being so "folksy" in some of her observations, by inserting suppositions and homey jokes, her work becomes very accessible by a large number of people.

The success of the book's depiction of life, however, far outweighs any criticism of the writing style. The truth about this book is that it is also somewhat quaint while at the same time incredibly thorough (but it does not draw grand conclusions about the colonial period). The overall impact is that the book works even today as an interesting history. While not exceptionally exciting, and at times the detail actually descends into a set of lists, the wealth of illustrations and the depth of description is a marvel of research given the fact that she accomplished this without the use of the…