New Canaan Library welcomes Professor Dane Morrison, speaking on the topic of how early Americans, through news brought back from distant sea voyages of commerce discovery, perceived the world beyond their shores. Morrison will draw upon his book Eastward of Good Hope: Early America in a Dangerous World. The live webinar will take place on Thursday, May 26 at 7 PM EST. Please register at newcanaanlibrary.org for Zoom sign in.
Freed from restrictions of British mercantilism in the years following the War of Independence, Yankee merchants embarked on numerous voyages of commerce and discovery into distant seas. This was a world that was profoundly disordered, hobbled by tyranny and oppression or steeped in chaos and anarchy, often deadly, always uncertain, unpredictable, yet amenable to American influence. Professor Morrison reconsiders American ideas about the world through some specific questions and viewpoints, which he will explore through his talk.
Dane A. Morrison is a professor of early American history at Salem State University. He is the author of A Praying People: Massachusett Acculturation and the Failure of the Puritan Mission, 1600–1690 and True Yankees: The South Seas and the Discovery of American Identity.