The 14th Colony Author:Michael Silverstein This is book one in a series that chronicles the settlement, growth, and many travails of a Jewish colony on the East Coast of North America -- a colony that would one day join with 13 other English colonies to create The United States of America. The 17th century, the period in which this book is set, is among history s most vibrant and quirky ... more »eras. It was the century that saw the full flowering of the first world economy, made possible by European exploration and conquest. Great empires were being built by the English, Dutch and French, while the already rich and swollen empire of the Spanish was starting to unravel. In this same period England (for a few years) was a republic under Oliver Cromwell. The Inquisition was in full swing, End of Days predictions were rampant. False messiahs won huge followings. There were well-supported searches for non-existent northwest passages, for cities of gold, for fountains of youth, and endless searches for the Lost Tribes of Israel. In the economic realm, the entire Dutch nation almost went bankrupt buying and selling tulips. Along with great achievements, rampant cupidity, excessive and often exotic religious fervor, the middle years of the 17th century excelled in exploitative and outright genocidal practices. These were years when the Middle Passage was in full swing, the shipment of blacks to the New World with millions dying en route.« less