I am presently writing prequels to As Two Ships Pass in the Night.

As the Twig is Bent  and Follow the Sun are not ready for publication in book form. From this site, however, the reader can access First or Second Draft “Modules” that, in aggregate, will be “chapters” or sections of chapters.  Chapters are not finished products — a goodly number are presently inaccessible to the reader.

I suggest the reader first read the brief summaries of each book in progress, choose one, and decide where you want to start after a review of the Table of Contents. Just click on desired module.

Volume 1: As the Twig is Bent, So Grows the Tree: Political Culture, Politics & Policy, and Economic Base of Colonial Virginia, Massachusetts & Pennsylvania

Presently a Table of Content is available for Virginia and Pennsylvania. Please click either one to see the modules available.

Review Module: Who was John Harvey: His Thrusting Out, the 1639 Deal    or     A Short Policy-making Version of Harvey’s Thrusting out: Impact on Virginia

AND

Volume 2: Follow the Sun on the Road to our Horizons: The Early Republic, 1787 to 1865,

To access the Table of Contents for Follow the Sun, please click

Click onto the Table of Contents. Each available chapter-topic will be listed and described. A second click on the Module or Module Series of your choice will allow you to choose what you interests you the most.

The Chapter Table of Contents and following clicks are the only way to access individual modules. 

Volume I: “As the Twig is Bent. So Grows the Tree” answers an interesting question: Why are American states and cities so alike, but yet amazingly different?  I offer a challenging answers: Our present day states were different from their colonial birth and those differences shaped their political structures, political cultures and economic base as the state matured to its present day. In that the history of each state, in its way, was distinct from other states our states share much, but differ noticeably and in important ways.

The colonial history of Virginia, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are examined–and contrasted–through the prism of dynamics critical to development of state/local policy systems/political cultures, and distinctive approaches to economic development. We will see how each of these states served as a model, sometimes an inspiration, for other states that followed.

As the Twig is Bent explains how Virginia, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania blazed three quite different paths into the American Revolution and into the Articles of Confederation and the Early American Republic. The colonial experience of each was incorporated into  the Articles of Confederation, and from there into the 1789 Constitution and America’s Early Republic (1789-1865).

Also, little known, and so badly understood, historical events and dynamics, plus the adventures and misadventures of Mother England, our failure to navigate a constructive and moral path in dealing with Native Americans, and the widely varying flow of immigrant-settlers “bent the twig”. They are the drivers of today’s American federalism.

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Volume II: “Follow the Sun on the Road to our Horizons“; the Early Republic, 1787 to 1865, is present first draft–and not fully developed. In it we discuss an additional raft of states: South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and explores the rise of the Cotton Belt. Heavy doses of Kentucky and Tennessee–and yes, Ohio (in the future), Illinois and Minnesota. open up the Midwest. As it was in our history, our tale, like Davy Crockett, Follows the Sun, winds up in Texas, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and California.

We start with an in-depth, seldom talked about, economic development career of the Father of American Economic Development: George Washington. We shall then examine the post 1800 reversal of the Interrupted Revolution (the American Revolution), disrupting the Washingtonian model, replacing it with the populist mode of economic development unleashed by Andrew Jackson.

We take an in-depth look at the Washington Administration and the Virginia Dynasty that governed the United States from 1789 to 1828. Canals and Railroads are a focus. Of course, we consider the construction and impact of the Erie Canal. Henry Clay, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas carry us into the Midwest and across the Mississippi.  We closely examine the rise of American Community Development from 1800 on, as well as trace the evolution of Mainstream Economic Development. Even in its first draft there are a goodly number of stimulating and interesting information. We then discuss a little known economic development Marshall-like Plan during the Reconstruction Period.

Volume III: As Two Ships Pass in the Night picks up after the Civil War through 1990-2000. It was published by Edward Elgar in 2017.

 I repeat–Volume I & II MODULES ARE NOT FINAL PRODUCTS, and can and, will be, changed as we approach a final copy for publication.