The Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America

John Fiske was an American philosopher and historian who wrote letters to Charles Darwin and became a voluminous writer of histories near the end of his life. The largest part of his life was devoted to the study of history, but at an early age inquiries into the nature of human progress led him to a careful study of the doctrine of evolution, and it was through the popularization of Charles Darwin's work that he first became known to the public. He applied himself to the philosophical interpretation of Darwin's work and produced many books and essays on this subject. His philosophy was influenced by Herbert Spencer's views on evolution. In a letter from Charles Darwin to John Fiske, dated from 1874, the naturalist remarks: "I never in my life read so lucid an expositor (and therefore thinker) as you are." Later he turned to historical writings, publishing books such as The Discovery of America (1892, ISBN 1-932080-42-2). In addition, he edited, with James Grant Wilson, Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1887). He died, worn out by overwork, at Gloucester, Massachusetts, July 4, 1901. One of Fiske's best-known works is Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America, a comprehensive look at the earliest period of colonial America near the start of the 17th century.