Natives and Newcomers: The Cultural Origins of North America

by James Axtell

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.

Genres: History, Native American History, Nonfiction

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Coleen Dailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting read on the relationship between the Native Americans and the colonial society. It focused mainly on the English colonies but also included some discussion of France and Spain.