"In this "collective biography of ordinary Americans," Morgan ( FDR ) offers an involving, if a bit disjointed, popular history of North America to the end of the 18th century. He draws on memoirs, journals and academic studies for his colloquial, panoramic narrative; his anecdotes mainly eschew the famous for intriguing characters like William Fitzhugh, who in 1674 built a 13-room house, complete with Turkish carpets, on Virginia's "gentrified" northern frontier. As Morgan covers the advances of the European powers and the formation of the United States, he does not ignore the many depredations of the powerful. But the French-born author is, above all, an American enthusiast, and he concludes by celebrating the emerging nation's egalitarianism and "spirit of enterprise." Sometimes, however, Morgan's search for relevance--as when he links colonial tobacco propaganda to 20th-century ads for "Marlboro Country"--seems strained, and he makes few attempts to apprise the reader of ongoing debates about historical interpretation."

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