Albion’s Seed

Albion’s Seed follows four large migrations from Britain to colonial North America: Puritans from eastern England to Massachusetts, southern English Royalists and servants to Virginia, Quakers from the North Midlands and Wales to the Delaware Valley, and borderers from northern Britain and Ulster to the Appalachian backcountry. Each movement carried distinctive customs concerning family, religion, language, work, education, violence and authority.

Fischer argues that these folkways persisted long after migration and became foundations of enduring American regional cultures. The book combines social history, material culture and comparative analysis to explain both the diversity of the United States and recurring conflicts over order, liberty, hierarchy and individual independence.