This entry in ABC-CLIOis exciting series Turning PointsoActual and Alternate Histories covers the development of the original 13 states, from first European contact up to the Revolutionary War. Using the fascinating tool of alternate historyopostulating the course of events, had one key fact been differentothe book engages studentsi imaginations and critical thinking skills.This critical period in American history is particularly suited to the alternative history approach: The population of the colonies was small, so the import of individual actions, or of singular events, was proportionately large. If the English had lost one battle to the Swedes, the United States might have been a Swedish colony. If James, Duke of York, had died of the plague in 1654, the U.S. and French revolutions might not have happened.