Old Times in the Colonies
Exploration, Puritan Settlements, Frontier Conflict, and the Origins of American Self-GovernmentBy Charles Carleton Coffin
Length12h 37m
About this audiobook
In *Old Times in the Colonies*, Charles Carleton Coffin presents a lively, panoramic account of North American colonial life, tracing the encounters, conflicts, institutions, and everyday experiences that shaped the English colonies before independence. Written in an accessible narrative style, the book combines historical exposition with anecdote, vivid scene-setting, reconstructed dialogue, and moral reflection. Its literary context is the nineteenth-century tradition of popular historical writing for young readers: it seeks not merely to document the past, but to make history dramatically intelligible and ethically instructive. Colonial expansion, relations with Indigenous peoples, religious aspiration, labor, warfare, and political self-government are woven into a story of national origins, though the book also reflects the period's predominantly patriotic and Anglo-American assumptions. Coffin (1823–1896) was a prominent American journalist, author, and Civil War correspondent whose experience observing public events gave his prose immediacy and narrative momentum. A committed advocate of historical education, he wrote numerous books intended to cultivate civic knowledge and moral character in younger Americans. His interest in the colonies arose from a desire to explain how habits of courage, community organization, religious conviction, and self-rule supposedly developed into the United States' national character. This book is recommended to readers interested in the cultural memory of colonial America, nineteenth-century historical pedagogy, and the formation of American national identity. It remains valuable both as an engaging introduction to colonial history and as a revealing primary text whose omissions and assumptions invite critical reflection. Students of historiography, children's literature, and popular nationalism will find Coffin's blend of instruction, storytelling, and patriotic interpretation especially rewarding.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.2 (182)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon
GenreChildren's Literature
Length12 hrs 37 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateNov 27, 2023
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (Annotated)
2Preface
3Chapter I Discovery of San Salvador
4Chapter II Forces of Civilization
5Chapter III First Settlements
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter IV The Wise Fool of England and His Times
7Chapter V The Beginning of Two Civilizations
8Chapter VI How Beaver-skins and Tobacco Helped on Civilization
9Chapter VII The Pilgrims
10Chapter VIII First Years at Plymouth
11Chapter IX Settlement of New Hampshire, New York, and Canada
12Chapter X The Puritan Beginning
13Chapter XI The Puritans Take Possession of New England
14Chapter XII Rhode Island and New Hampshire
15Chapter XIII Affairs at Manhattan
16Chapter XIV The Struggle for Liberty in England, and Hot It Affected America
17Chapter XV The Quakers
18Chapter XVI The End of Dutch Rule in America
19Chapter XVII The Times of Charles II
20Chapter XVIII King Philip's War
21Chapter XIX Louis Frontenac in Canada
22Chapter XX Governor Berkeley and the Virginians
23Chapter XXI How the King Took Away the Charters of the Colonies
24Chapter XXII King William's War
25Chapter XXIII New Jersey and Maryland
26Chapter XXIV Settlement of Pennsylvania
27Chapter XXV Witches
28Chapter XXVI The Legacy of Blood
29Chapter XXVII Maine and New Hampshire
30Chapter XXVIII The Carolinas
31Chapter XXIX Georgia
32Chapter XXX The Negro Tragedy
33Chapter XXXI The Beginning of a Great Struggle
34Chapter XXXII Defeat of General Braddock
35Chapter XXXIII The Emperor of Austria's Will
36Chapter XXXIV Incompetent and Cowardly Generals
37Chapter XXXV Two Civilizations
38Chapter XXXVI The Destiny of an Empire
More from Charles Carleton Coffin
The Independence Day Collection: 30 Best American Revolution NovelsCharles Carleton Coffin, James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, Winston Churchill, Rafael Sabatini, Randall Parrish, Alexandre Dumas, S. Weir Mitchell, Cyrus Townsend Brady, Robert W. Chambers, John Pendleton Kennedy, Frank Baird, Bret Harte, Alfred Henry Lewis, Joseph A. Altsheler, James Francis Barrett, Herbert Baird Stimpson, Jeanie Gould Lincoln, Sarah J. Prichard, Maurice Thompson, James Otis, Hezekiah Butterworth, John Esten Cooke, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Robert Neilson Stephens, Amelia E. Barr, Maturin M. Ballou298h 25m$1.99
Old Times in the Colonies (Illustrated Edition)Charles Carleton Coffin12h 37m4.2 (93)$1.99 · $0.00
The Seat of EmpireCharles Carleton Coffin5h 1m4.3 (11)$2 · $0.00
Old Times in the Colonies (Illustrated Edition)Charles Carleton Coffin13h 21m4.2 (170)$1 · $0.00
My Days and Nights on the Battle-Field (Annotated)Charles Carleton Coffin6h 6m3.9 (93)$1.99 · $0.00
Old Times in the Colonies (Illustrated Edition)Charles Carleton Coffin12h 35m4.1 (295)$2 · $0.00
The Story of Liberty & Old Times in the Colonies (Illustrated Edition)Charles Carleton Coffin22h 52m$1 · $0.00
Old Times in the ColoniesCharles Carleton Coffin13h 20m4.0 (50)$2 · $0.00
The Greatest Works of Charles Carleton CoffinCharles Carleton Coffin91h 34m$2 · $0.00
Old Times in the Colonies & The Story of LibertyCharles Carleton Coffin23h 30m4.3 (280)$2 · $0.00
Because My Destiny AwaitsCorwin McGinnis2h 40m5.0 (41)$15
A Wolf Called FireRosanne Parry4h 7m4.7 (1.2K)$7 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman3h 2m4.6 (15.6K)$18 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal7h 25m4.6 (1.9K)$24 · $0.00
Warriors #6: The Darkest HourErin Hunter8h 8m4.6 (70.2K)$26 · $0.00
The Complete Works of Beatrix Potter (Annotated)Beatrix Potter5h 11m4.6 (1.5K)$2 · $0.00
The Violet Fairy Book (Annotated)Andrew Lang11h 39m4.7 (304)$2 · $0.00
Little Lord Fauntleroy (Annotated)Frances Hodgson Burnett7h 56m4.6 (1.5K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Nutcracker and The Mouse King (Annotated)E.T.A. Hoffmann4h 4m4.6 (1.5K)$2 · $0.00
Deep ZoneTim Green6h 12m4.6 (2.8K)$20
REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM & NEW CHRONICLES OF REBECCA (Children's Book Classics) (Annotated)Kate Douglas Wiggin15h 32m4.6 (1.4K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Pilgrim’s ProgressRousseaux Brasseur3h 22m4.7 (158)$17
Just William (Illustrated) (Annotated)Richmal Crompton6h 30m4.6 (1.2K)$2 · $0.00
The Labors of Hercules BealGary D. Schmidt8h 17m4.6 (10.4K)$8 · $0.00
Clancy of the Overflow (The Matilda Saga, #9)Jackie French14h 24m4.6 (471)$33 · $0.00
The House at Pooh CornerA. A. Milne3h 13m4.5 (117.7K)$12
The Great Fairy Tales - Oscar Wilde Edition (Illustrated) (Annotated)Oscar Wilde6h 31m4.6 (1.1K)$2 · $0.00
The Boy Who Followed His Father into AuschwitzJeremy Dronfield6h 54m4.5 (28.5K)$24 · $0.00
The Adventures of Uncle Rocky, FiremanJames Burd Brewster2h 41m4.8 (75)$10
Attack from Tilted TowersDevin Hunter2h 6m4.7 (235)$15
You may also like
Old Times in the Colonies (Illustrated Edition)Charles Carleton Coffin12h 35m4.1 (295)$2 · $0.00
The Story of MankindHendrik Willem van Loon14h 3m3.6 (6K)$25
The Autobiographical WorksGeorge Orwell35h 35m4.5 (2.3K)$2 · $0.00
The New World (Complete Edition)Winston Churchill14h 25m4.4 (2.5K)$1 · $0.00
Empires of the SteppesKenneth W. Harl17h 13m4.0 (1.5K)$40 · $0.00
An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon in the East IndiesRobert Knox13h 44m4.2 (84)$1 · $0.00
Through the Land of the Serb (Annotated)M. E. Durham9h 28m4.0 (23)$1.99 · $0.00
Canada and the StatesE. W. Sir Watkin12h 32m$2 · $0.00
Old Times in the Colonies (Illustrated Edition)Charles Carleton Coffin12h 37m4.2 (93)$1.99 · $0.00
The Memoirs of Lieut. Henry TimberlakeHenry Timberlake3h 51m4.0 (27)$1 · $0.00
Ancient Greece: The History of Classical Greece from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Hellenistic Age (Summarized Edition)John Bagnell Bury8h 58m$2
Tides of History: Rise of the Modern World, Vol. 1Patrick Wyman5h 49m4.9 (10)$20
History of the Philippine Islands (Vol. 1&2)Joaquín Martínez de Zúñiga11h 47m$1 · $0.00
History of the American Frontier 1763–1893Frederic L. Paxson24h 55m3.8 (325)$30
A History of Kansas (Annotated)Anna E. Arnold6h 41m3.8 (20)$1.99 · $0.00
The New World (Annotated)Winston Churchill14h 34m$2 · $0.00
Early Britain—Roman BritainJohn William Edward Conybeare7h 8m3.9 (11)$2 · $0.00
A History of KansasAnna E. Arnold6h 38m$2 · $0.00
Travels in Morocco (Vol. 1&2) (Annotated)James Richardson11h 9m$1.99 · $0.00
The Cape and the Kaffirs: A Diary of Five Years' Residence in KaffirlandMrs. Ward11h 2m$2 · $0.00