This book explores the lively interplay between popular romances and colonial narratives during a crucial period of English and colonial history. Joan Pong Linton argues that while the emergent romance figure of the husband embodies a new ideal of productive masculinity, colonial narratives, in putting this masculinity to the test, often contradict and raise doubts about the ideal. Study of these texts in the context of colonial experience reveals not just the "romance of empire" but also the impact of the New World on English identity.