Hammond Innes has written some great books and some average ones, but Levkas Man is his masterpiece. It is a superb, unusually dark, adventure story about the hunt for the remains of primitive man by two rival scientists. That in itself is exciting, but it is the characters that make this book. The way the modern cast display the same, primeval emotions of ancient humans is brilliantly done, and, although entertaining, this is a bitter tale of how individual people don't change any more than the human race as a whole.

The lives of blacks who achieve freedom.

I read this book for my college history class. It was a great look into a society that we know so little about. While reading this book you can see how America begins to slip into slavery with the treatment of Africans on the Eastern Shore. Some pieces of the history of Virginia are missing but Breen and Innes do a great job with what they have to work with.

This is an excellent introduction to the evolution of black-white relations in mainland North America and to the development of racist attitudes based on cultural diversity.

Africans began arriving early in English-American history. Some of the first of these arrived in Virginia. A number of black Atlantic creoles, notably the Johnsons and Drigguses arrived in Virginia, managed to survive the tidewater massacre and other problems relating to survival and even to gain enough personal wealth to buy their freedom (or were subject to voluntary manumission due to appreciation for their outstanding service to their owners). These black former-slaves (and, possibly, some black indentured servants) set up plantations on Virginia's east shore (where the coast doubles backs around Chesapeake Bay) and established plantations. They owned slaves and purchased white indentured servants. In addition, because the racist aspects of slavery were still largely limited by the cosmopolitanism of the Atlantic creoles, several of the families intermarried with whites.

Slowly, over a period of time, an increasing number of non-creole blacks arrived as slaves and the distinct markings, customs and languages of the numerous new arrivals resulted in hardening racial sentiments. Some blacks, such as Anthony Johnson's grandson (also Anthony Johnson) began to consider Africa in a positive light as opposed to European racism and restrictions on the rights of free blacks - eventually leaving for less restrictive colonies, such as Maryland. Some were re-enslaved (not having been able to produce clear evidence that they were free and not having any living whites who could attest that their ancestors had been freed). As Ira Berlin (MANY THOUSANDS GONE) points out, some remained as relatively wealthy planters, such as Ezicarum Driggus even after such racist sentiment crystallized.

This should be read with Tommy L. Bogger: FREE BLACKS IN NORFOLK VIRGINIA 1790-1860:The Darker Side of Freedom and Earvin Jordan's BLACK CONFEDERATES AND AFRO-YANKEES IN CIVIL WAR VIRGINIA.

The first reviewer for the work gives an admirable and accurate summary of its main theses, so I will cut to the chase and begin my critique. I am one of the undergraduates who had the good fortune to actually read this book for Innes' course in Colonial American history at U.Va. As such, my opinion of the book may be skewed by the context in which I read it. In the book, Innes makes an admirable effort in making the Puritans understandable to the modern reader. He cogently outlines the foundational ethic of Puritans and how its internal paradoxes fostered constant striving for social justice and economic prosperity. The book is useful in dispelling much of the fairy tale images of early American history that popular culture feeds us. Readers shouldn't fear the word "economic" in the subtitle; the text is dense but not inaccessible. Nevertheless, the book IS an undergraduate level textbook, and it is rather substantial. I recommend it only for the reader with a real passion for the subject matter.

Innes argues that the economic success of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was due to the Puritans creation of a society in which capitalism, community, and civil society were connected. The Protestant work ethic, which was taught in the household, pulpit, meetinghouse, and assembly, instructed that God provided every man with a calling and it was his duty to work hard at it. This religious-based work ethic coupled with the belief that profit taking was fine as long as the profits were used to help others (the linking of individual and collective well-being) encouraged the development, within the community, of an individual-based capitalism. These two beliefs endorsed "striving" behavior and enterprise which led to the growth of the economy.

This is the last novel of the late Hammond Innes. I don't want to write bad things about it. But honestly, I am deeply disappointed.

Paul Cartwright is an English engineer employed by a resource research company. He visits Romania on the eve of the Ceausescu regime's collapse. He kills a Secret Police officer to save his Romanian friend, and he desperately tries to get out of the country.

That's the first half of the story. Not so exciting. The story goes rather awkwardly. Paul Cartwright, the protagonist, lacks attractiveness and/or individuality; he is rather a nondescript narrator than a protagonist. But there are several impressive scenes; the killing of the Secret Police officer, the lively description of the Ceausescu regime's collapse, and the wild wetland of the Danube Delta.

The latter half is much worse. Immediately after Paul gets out of Romania, his company urgently dispatches him to Pakistan-Afghanistan border district. But, what the urgency is, what the company wants Paul to do, where is the final destination ... the story goes on and on about 100 pages without clearing what is all about. I feel this tantalizing situation goes on endlessly, and I quit reading the book.

Terribly disappointed, but I give 2 stars, because some Romanian parts worth reading.