It's as if the best and worst traits of early America were on display, just a short distance apart. In colonial Jamestown, Virginia, the first gathering of a representative assembly took place within a few weeks of the arrival of the first shipload of African slaves.
It all happened in the year that is the title of James Horn's book: 1619.
The work explores how the first permanent colony of Europeans managed to exalt democracy and bondage at the same time. The author visits with details.
