Book excerpt: Through a collection of documents and a revised introduction that incorporates updates in scholarship over the past two decades, particularly on the north and environmental history, Peter C. Mancall gives twenty-first century readers a glimpse of the time when the possibility of colonizing North America was anything but certain. Pamphlets, accounts, and engravings from the late-sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century capture the process of English colonization from its origins in promotional propaganda to its realization on the shores of North America. New to this edition is Ferdinando Gorges' A briefe Relation of the Discovery and Plantation of New England, which extends the geographical range of this collection and reminds readers of the difficulties the English experienced in new regions. An updated chronology and bibliography, along with new Questions for Consideration, further aid students' understanding of this compelling topic. Book jacket.