Here is the whole beguiling and sometimes surprising story of how Americans lived from the first settlements at Jamestown down to the Revolution. Weaving together countless colorful and intimate details, the author has created a vivid tapestry of everyday life, ranging from a humble New England fireside to an elegant Virginia plantation.

Mrs. Speare, twice a winner of the Newberry Award for the best books for young readers, has drawn on diaries, letters, travelers' tales and reconstructed colonial villages not only for the daily activities but also for the spirit of life in early America. The result is a book that is rich in information as well as a pleasure to read.

The full-length text has been brilliantly supplemented by 60 drawings in color (all checked by specialists) and a host of documentary photographs, some never before published.

Here is a sampling of the contents:

Plantation Life: The Jamestown colony; bond-servants and slaves; tobacco becomes an industry; exaggerated fashions; Colonial Williamsbur.

New England Neighbors: Plymouth in 1621; the Puritan sabbath; witchcraft fever; country stores; cobblers and blacksmiths; elegance of city life.

The Dutch and the Quakers: The little Dutch burg that became New York; elaborate fashions; the founding of Philadelphia.

The Goodwife at Home: Hasty pudding and pumpkin pie; lug pole and brick oven; wooden trenchers and spoon molds; candle-dripping and soap-making; snail water and pokeberry plasters; wool, flax, and spinning wheels.

"To Provide for the Common Defense": Wolves and Indians; drilling on the village green; flintlocks and powder horns; volunteer firemen; bucket brigades and rival pumpers.

School Days: Chores for a child; hand-carved toys; kites and jackknives; clothes for little adults; Dame schools and hornbooks; the one-room schoolhouse.

Tradesmen and Craftsmen: Shipyards an schooners; cod fishing and whale hunting; Pine Tree schillings; ironworks, glass blowing and printing; "King Cotton" and beaver hats.

By Sea and By Land: The terrors of travel; forest trails and rushing streams; the ferryman; sedan chairs and stagecoach journeys; post-riders, peddlers and Conestoga wagons; the friendly tavern.

High Days and Holidays: Pigeon hunts and turkey shoots; corn husking, quilting bees and country fairs; card playing, dancing, and horse-racing; musical societies, theaters and books.

From the dust jacket