This is the first volume of Encyclopaedia Britannica's excellent historical reference collection, setting forth America's history in the form of the original writings and documents that helped forge and annotate our history. This first volume includes the writings of Christopher Columbus, John Smith, John Cotton, Roger Williams, William Penn, Increase Mather, Cotton Mather, Benjamin Franklin and many others. Among other documents, here is the Mayflower Compact. This is an immensely valuable resource for anybody wanting to research the country's history using the actual writings of its shapers. A mere glance at the titles in the Table of Contents is enough to arouse one's historical curiosity, and inspire a feeling of wonder that this country somehow took the course it did in the midst of so many conflicting pressures on it. This could have easily become a deocracy, and was for much of its early history. ( )