Review by Choice Review
Tracing four generations of the Livingston family of New York, from 1675 until 1790, Kiener, presents a work that is more than just an American family history. This important and prolific family had among its members merchants, planters, land speculators on a grand scale, lawyers, and political leaders. The story begins with the arrival of Robert Livingston "without family, friends, or patrons." But by the fourth generation, the Livingstons were one of the most important families in New York and included a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a subsequent Secretary of State. Although demonstrating the "factiousness" for which New York is famous, Kiener argues that the Livingstons, as well as many other New York families and other emerging elites in provincial America, held similar views and values. These she defines as combining the values of the Protestant ethic with those of the aristocratic ideal. If nothing else, the Livingstons were entrepreneurs, and successful family members were rewarded; the less successful were shunted aside. The book is a needed study and combines primary source material with a scholarly analysis and use of the relevant secondary material. Kiener constantly places the family within the wider societal arena. In so doing, however, she sometimes confuses readers, who may become lost chronologically as well as lost among the miscellany of Livingstons. Graduate; faculty; researchers. G. W. Franz; Pennsylvania State University, Delaware County Campus
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
