Books: American Origins

THE COLONIAL PERIOD OF AMERICAN HISTORY: VOLUME II, THE SETTLEMENTS—Charles McLean Andrews—Yale University Press ($4).

In 1935, industrious, 72-year-old Professor Charles McLean Andrews of Yale won the Pulitzer Prize with the first volume of his monumental re-examination into U. S. beginnings: The Colonial Period of American History. That book, running to 551 well-filled pages, the most ambitious of the author's 28 historical studies, opened with a phrase of classic serenity: "In fashioning this work," said Professor Andrews, "I think it worthwhile to begin whether I am able to finish it or not."...