This collection of essays is dedicated to social historian Gary B. Nash, who has done a lot to focus the attention of historians and students alike on a new vision of colonial American society as a triracial community instead of the traditional picture that places white Europeans in the center, and all the rest are "cultures". Some of the essays go right to the bone of American identity formed through historical knowledge (Nash is extremely active on the school curriculum front). One essay calls for a re-examination of the usage of the word "plantation" where in reality, plantations resembled full-blown labor camps based on the racist and economical exploitation of Africans.