Emigrants

'Marvellously engaging' The Times

'Brisk, informative and eye-opening' Daily Telegraph

In the 1600s, vast numbers of people left England for the Americas. Crossing the Atlantic was a major undertaking, the voyage long and treacherous. Why did they go?

Emigrants casts vivid new light on the population shift which underpins the rise of modern America. Using contemporary sources including diaries, court hearings and letters, James Evans brings us the extraordinary personal stories of the men and women who made the journey of a lifetime.

“What led a person in 17th-century England to get on a ship bound for the Americas? James Evans attempts to answer that question by exploring both the push and pull factors involved. ...His descriptions are vivid.... and he relates in a readable style the lives of people who chose to make the journey.”

A marvellously engaging and comprehensive account of this ambitious undertaking and the men and women who accomplished it, often with the odds stacked against them. Here he tells the exciting, sometimes heartbreaking stories of the pioneers and explains what kind of world they dreamt of creating - The Times

Gripping and enjoyable ... In a lucid, well-written and solidly researched analysis, Evans teases out the mixed and complicated reasons that so many people were compelled to make the risky sea voyage to a perilous wilderness - Church Times

James Evans completed a doctorate at Oriel College, Oxford, following a first-class degree and a Masters in Historical Research. He is a writer and producer of historical documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4, and the author of Merchant Adventurers: The Voyage of Discovery that Transformed Tudor England. He lives in London with his wife and three children.

'Marvellously engaging' The Times 'Brisk, informative and eye-opening' Daily Telegraph In the 1600s, vast numbers of people left England for the Americas. Crossing the Atlantic was a major undertaking, the voyage long and treacherous. Why did they go? Emigrants casts vivid new light on the population shift which underpins the rise of modern America. Using contemporary sources including diaries, court hearings and letters, James Evans brings us the extraordinary personal stories of the men and women who made the journey of a lifetime.

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