Philip Ranlet's deeply researched and comprehensively narrated biography does overdue justice to Cadwallader Colden's illustrious career. Colden was remarkably talented as a physician, politician, botanist, and ethnographer—a true son of the Enlightenment, whose influence ranged far beyond New York province to the rest of British America, England, and Continental Europe. Ranlet brings fresh insights into preRevolutionary America by meticulously reconstructing the life and writings of one of its most active and accomplished participants.
