European and Native American Warfare, 1675–1815

Warfare and History

by Armstrong Starkey

This fascinating survey blends anthropology and military history to reexamine the European invasion of North America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Tracing conflicts beginning with King Philip’s War in New England and ending with the conquest of Indians in the Old Northwest, Armstrong Strakey shows the evolution of both Indian and European warfare methods during this turbulent period. Rather than considering military history as an isolated phenomenon, Starkey describes military encounters as only one aspect of a more fundamental conflict of cultures. Drawing on recent scholarship in ethnohistory, Starkey dismantles numerous stereotypes of Indian and European warriors and methods of warfare. He shows that Indians and Europeans were allies as frequently as they were enemies and that the most successful European fighters were those who adopted the Indian way of war as their own. Thus, according to the author, the story of European and Native American warfare is as much one of cultural exchanges as cultural conflict.

Genres: History, American, War, Military History, Nonfiction

218 pages, Paperback

First published June 10, 1998

Reviews

[Alex]

Really good job at balancing vignettes and examples with analysis. Covers a large period in great depth without overwhelming reader. Short read too.

[Reed]

Interesting, gory, and a terrific insight into what happened to the Native Americans during the invasion of North America by Europeans. A war doctrine, cultural study, history, adventure story, and tragedy all rolled into one. I would recommend it to everyone so that modern society can better understand what went wrong in Native American/European relations from the 17th to early 19th Centuries.

[Jessica]

The style of this book is a bit dry and textbook-like. However, the comparisons made between the styles of warfare were excellent and even applicable today. This book is all about the differences between traditional warfare and guerrilla warfare.