New World, Inc.

Chris Kipiniak gives a clear, meticulous performance of this historical audiobook about the origins of modern America. The "Inc." in the title is apt--this is a history that contrasts with what many listeners may have learned. Conventional history posits that the New World was founded on a search for religious freedom; Butman and Targett's audiobook suggests that motivations were more transactional. While listeners may be familiar with some of the names and dates from school, what links the historical events here is the enterprising spirit that guided explorers to seek new opportunities. Kipiniak's narration, resembling a nimble series of academic lectures, invites listeners into the fascinating stories recounted here. S.P.C. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

January 1, 2018
On May 20, 1553, three ships chartered by an English joint-stock company called the Mysterie set off down the Thames from London in search of “Regions, Dominions, Islands, and Places Unknown.” The Mysterie ships sought a northern passage to the riches of Cathay, or China. They never found it—but, as business writer Butman (Breaking Out) and journalist Targett explain, their voyage inaugurated a new age of English seafaring propelled by the twin currents of trading profit and entrepreneurial zeal. The authors portray these 16th-century English merchant adventurers as the real founders of the New World, enterprising men whose appetite for risk made them a natural fit for their tempestuous times and whose critical role in the American story was erased in favor of the pious pilgrims. Butman and Targett are fluent storytellers with an eye for detail, but their rewriting of the age of exploration as a straightforward paean to modern-day capitalism is problematic; the story they tell isolates the motives of a handful of men from the wider context of the early Atlantic economy. Agent: Katherine Flynn, Kneerim & Williams.