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David’s Year In Books

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David Andrew Nichols’s Followers (89)

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David Andrew Nichols

Goodreads Author

Born

in Norwood, Massachusetts, The United States

Website

http://happenedstrangely.blogspot.com

Twitter

DrNick0770

Member Since

December 2007

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/davenichols

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David A. Nichols is a history professor at Indiana State University, and a specialist in Native American and frontier American history. He is currently completing his third book, Peoples of the Inland Sea: Native Americans and Newcomers in the Great Lakes Region, 1600-1870, and working on a study of the economic history of the Chickasaws. In his spare time he likes to read, play designer boardgames, and walk his dogs, Molly and Cosi.

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Popular Answered Questions

Hi David, wondering if you had any thoughts on the ubiquity of the word squaw in white encounters with Native Americans. I have read about the origins of the term, but when you get out West it seems odd that we keep encountering that term, and that "half-breed" translators and such who ought to know better seem to keep rendering "squaw" in communications with white men when damn out of space..?

David Andrew Nichols Hi, Claudia. The word "squaw" derives from an Algonquian word for "woman." I think it becomes ubiquitous in 19th-century discourse because Anglo-Ameri…moreHi, Claudia. The word "squaw" derives from an Algonquian word for "woman." I think it becomes ubiquitous in 19th-century discourse because Anglo-American writers, especially if they are writing for a popular audience, rarely make distinctions between different Indian nations and cultures. They instead present Indians as a uniform and unchanging mass, with (presumably) only one language. This remains a problem into the twentieth century, when the archetypal Indian presented by American media (especially Western movies) is a 19th-century Plains Indian warrior - an atypical culture when set against the whole continent's history and compared to most other Native American groups.(less)

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what was the major factor that causes the soviet union to collapse?

David Andrew Nichols Food. The collectivization of agriculture caused the USSR's population to outstrip its food supply by the early 1960s. Oil exports and borrowing allow…moreFood. The collectivization of agriculture caused the USSR's population to outstrip its food supply by the early 1960s. Oil exports and borrowing allowed the Soviet government to import grain, for a time, but oil prices plummeted in the 1980s and credit dried up in the early '90s. Without food and credit the USSR couldn't use its army to suppress independence movements in the republics, nor a liberalization movement in Russia itself.(less)

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Combine Editions
David Andrew Nichols’s books

Average rating: 4.13 · 46 ratings · 5 reviews · 4 distinct works

	Red Gentlemen and White Savages: Indians, Federalists, and the Search for Order on the American Frontier 4.33 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 2008	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Peoples of the Inland Sea: Native Americans and Newcomers in the Great Lakes Region, 1600–1870 3.79 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2018 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Engines of Diplomacy: Indian Trading Factories and the Negotiation of American Empire 4.50 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2016 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	To Be Men of Business: The Origins of Chickasaw Capitalism, 1700–1840 (New Visions in Native American and Indigenous Studies) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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David is Currently Reading

David Nichols is currently reading

A World Trimmed with Fur: Wild Things, Pristine Places, and the Natural Fringes of Qing Rule

by Jonathan Schlesinger

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Jan 14, 2026 07:02AM

David Nichols is currently reading

Henry I: The Father of His People

by Edmund King

bookshelves: currently-reading, biography

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Jan 14, 2026 04:49AM

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David Nichols rated a book really liked it Bibliolepsy by Gina Apostol (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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David Nichols wants to read God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics by C.S. Lewis	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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David Nichols is currently reading A World Trimmed with Fur: Wild Things, Pristine Places, and the Natural Fringes of Qing Rule by Jonathan Schlesinger	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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David Nichols rated a book really liked it Outlaw Planet by M.R. Carey (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 13, 2026 01:34PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Outlaw Planet by M.R. Carey. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Outlaw Planet by M.R. Carey <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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David Nichols rated a book really liked it Augustus The Strong: A Study in Artistic Greatness and Political Fiasco by Timothy C.W. Blanning	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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David’s Quotes

“At 50, everyone has the face he deserves.”
― George Orwell

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“Deprived of their newspapers or a novel, reading-addicts will fall back onto cookery books, on the literature which is wrapped around bottles of patent medicine, on those instructions for keeping the contents crisp which are printed on the outside of boxes of breakfast cereals. On anything.”
― Aldous Huxley, Olive Tree

tags: reading

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