Natives and Newcomers: The Cultural Origins of North America Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book deals with northeast North America, east of the Appalachians, in the period 1492-1783, i.e. from the first Columbus' voyage to the end of the Independence War. The main argument of the book is that cultural frontiers in early North america were "two-way"- interactive and dynamic. Thus, both sides influenced each other. The author attempted also to "write history from the other side of the frontier." (p.10) He is sympathetic to the Indian's point of view and tries to shed some light and understanding upon it.
He rejects the perception about the European moral superiority over the Indians and argues that the French and the English governments periodically fostered scalping of European and Indian enemies by offering bounties or other economic incentives. (p.269)
The only drawback of the book is the Axtell is repating himself, because this book is a compilation of papers and chapters from previous books, so he doesn't have a lot of new information in this book.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Natives and Newcomers: The Cultural Origins of North America

In the past thirty years historians have come to realize that the shape and temper of early America was determined as much by its Indian natives as it was by its European colonizers. No one has done more to discover and recount this story than James Axtell, one of America's premier ethnohistorians. Natives and Newcomers is a collection of fifteen of his best and most influential essays, available for the first time in one volume. In accessible and often witty prose, Axtell describes the major encounters between Indians and Europeans--first contacts, communications, epidemics, trade and gift-giving, social and sexual mingling, work, cultural and religious conversions, military clashes--and probes their short- and long-term consequences for both cultures. The result is a book that shows how encounters between Indians and Europeans ultimately led to the birth of a distinctly American identity. Natives and Newcomers is an essential text for undergraduate and graduate courses in Colonial American history and Native American history.

Click here for more information about Natives and Newcomers: The Cultural Origins of North America