New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America

by Colin G. Calloway

Although many Americans consider the establishment of the colonies as the birth of this country, in fact Early America already existed long before the arrival of the Europeans. From coast to coast, Native Americans had created enduring cultures, and the subsequent European invasion remade much of the existing land and culture. In New Worlds for All , Colin Calloway explores the unique and vibrant new cultures that Indians and Europeans forged together in early America. The journey toward this hybrid society kept Europeans' and Indians' lives tightly living, working, worshiping, traveling, and trading together―as well as fearing, avoiding, despising, and killing one another. In the West, settlers lived in Indian towns, eating Indian food. In Mohawk Valley, New York, Europeans tattooed their faces; Indians drank tea. And, a unique American identity emerged.

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction, Native American History, Indigenous, Native American, School

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Colin G. Calloway is John Kimball Jr. 1943 Professor of History and Native American Studies at Dartmouth College. His previous books include A Scratch of the Pen and The Victory with No Name.

Reviews

[chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 ᯓ★

never again. i'll put this piece of trash in a little free library so it can traumatize a little kid.

FINALLY. reading this book was the singular most torturous, grueling experience i've ever been through in my life. only two more books to go before i'm done with summer homework!! (kill me)

not only was this book complete poo water and hard to get through like all nonfiction is, the author felt strangely biased to me. like isn't this supposed to be a historical account of Native Indian history?? i felt like all i was reading was "white people abuse indians"..."indians adapt and accept it". like HELL NO. if you want to read 200 pgs about white people suppressing, massacring, and stealing land from native indians, go ahead and read this book!!

꒰ 🪶 ꒱ preread:

⤷ reading this for school....HELPPP. the text is so small, idk how i'm going to make it through this 😀🔫

[Jim Drewery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Colin Calloway further advances his neo-progressive vision of the history of the Americas, in New Worlds for All. Discarding traditional historical accounts of Christopher Columbus 'discovering' the 'New World' in 1492, Calloway asserts instead that Columbus merely facilitated the connection between the two worlds, both of which were filled with peoples who had massed into their own related, but yet distinctively unique cultures, each with its own language, religion, and customs. Over time in both worlds, different groups had at various times made war on each other, and lived in peace, worshiped different gods, intermarried, and established commerce and trade among themselves. They developed complex trading routes connecting their settlements across great distances in both spheres. In essence the author contends that beyond the Europeans' obvious technological advantages in weaponry, sailing, and trans-oceanic navigation, the two worlds shared many commonalities as well.
Despite these similarities, from the onset the two cultures looked upon each other from radically different world views which had been indelibly etched upon their sensibilities, handed down and reinforced through countless generations. Each tried to make sense of the seemingly strange tongue, manners, and habits of the other, based upon their own cultural norms. Thus Europeans saw the Amerindians as backward, uncivilized heathens desperately in need of Christian salvation, which they would get around to, right after they plundered the wealth of resources the Indians' lands contained, which these foolish childlike creatures were virtually ignoring and utterly wasting. The Amerindians by contrast for the most part viewed Europeans as yet another new tribe to be reckoned with, which although powerful, was composed of curious, rather arrogant individuals who were weak without the great magical equalizer, their guns. They were incapable of taking care of themselves left to their own devices, very naive to the ways of Mother Earth, extremely wasteful and unappreciative of her gifts. Everywhere they went disease, despair, waste, and destruction followed.
Central to the premise of Calloway's work is the quite logical idea that from the moment of that first encounter between Europeans and Native Americans, both of their worlds were irrevocably changed. Calloway manages to pack a wealth of examples into just under two hundred pages divided into theme oriented chapters, each focusing on the ideas and actions of all the parties involved, regarding such varied areas as religion and ceremonies, inter-tribal and gender relations, warfare and slavery, commerce and trade, disease and medicine. With these areas in mind he examines and synthesizing the work of prominent pioneers of American historiography like Bernard Bailyn, Frederick Jackson Turner, and James Axtell, for clues and examples of how this related to different groups of Amerindians who once thrived in the southwestern as well as the north and south eastern parts of North America. Calloway concludes that in each of these areas both European and Indian culture absorbed and evolved elements from the other which it found beneficial, while rejecting what it found too objectionable or unnecessary. Those interactions between Amerindians and Europeans expounded changes which ultimately led, after some three centuries of societal cultural evolution, to the emergence of a unique new species of humans, the Americans.
Published sixteen years ago in 1997, New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America, was the eighth offering from Calloway's prolific pen, coming roughly a decade after the beginning of the distinguished ethnohistorian's career. He has been on the faculty of Dartmouth College for nearly a quarter century, where he is a Professor of History and Native American Studies. He has published more than a dozen books focusing on the genre of Native American history and has served as editor on other literary projects on the topic as well. All have been well received within the academy and in 2011 his lifetime of academic and literary endeavors was honored by the Western Historical Society, with the American Indian History Lifetime Achievement Award. This volume was one of his first offerings aimed more specifically at a wider reading audience beyond the academic arena. However judging from the pristine condition of the now sixteen year old library copy obtained for this review, casual readers with an interest in well researched and written historical works are in rather short supply. This is truly a shame, because this book while sparsely illustrated, is a relatively easy read that provides readers with an insightful glimpse into the creation of a new world system. It is the story of just one ball of the roots of the great tree today known as globalization, but a very important part of what makes us all Americans, and if we don't know how we became who we are, we are destined most likely to repeat and perpetuate the mistakes of the past.
While this is an excellent survey of relations between Whites and Indians from 1492 through the birth of the early and early years of the American republic, the overview is too broad and sweeping to present a full picture of the topic necessary for advanced scholarship. It does serve however as an excellent road map to a treasure trove of primary and early secondary source material for the graduate student of Native American studies.

[Todd Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

America…melting pot of European settlers and Native American inhabitants…this is basically the theme of Dr. Calloway’s work in “New Worlds for All”. He explores a variety of themes, ranging from religion, to politics, to language, warfare, and genetics. He argues that while there were many instances of stubborn refusal to accept the culture of “savages” by many white, European colonial groups(particularly the English of New England), the 17th and 18th Centuries saw incredible cultural interchange between the two peoples that created a distinctly “American” cultural ethos and civilization. The argument is carried so far as to suggest that the American Revolution and independence of the United States would have been impossible without the “Inidianization” of the European groups that moved to North America. I find myself in full agreement with this logic, which Dr. Calloway outlines in nearly irrefutable fashion through yet another insightful and brilliant work.

The tales of how different Europeans perceived their colonial brethren lend weight to the argument. Indian people of North America actively participated and shaped the new culture, even though it was imperceptible to those living through it. The real brilliance of Dr. Calloway’s treatise is in not ignoring, but incorporating the decades of bloody conflict between the two and racial, religious, and cultural suspicions and animosity by both parties against one another. Yet, the symbiosis created by their interaction forged an entirely new people…Americans. I also greatly appreciated his efforts to distinguish between what were the true “Native” people of America at the end of the 15th Century, during the early Spanish colonial expeditions, to the “Indian” people that emerged by the start of the 19th Century. He outlines how the various tribal groups underwent tremendous changes and consolidation in the face of transformation yielded by European introductions of disease, ideas, and technology. Again, Dr. Colin Calloway stands as the true master of early American colonial history and development.

[Reading Wolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

In his book New Worlds For All, Colin Calloway pulls together the information provided by multiple scholars in interdisciplinary fields, to form a framework illustrating the radical changes in Indian and European life during the early years of American settlement. He states in the preface that his purpose is to show how the Native American assisted in the formation of the American identity without painting them as some “exotic subcategory in American history.” (xiv)

Calloway pulls information from many well documented scholars in academia to support the influence on American culture by the Native American and European inhabitants of colonial America. Much of the information provided to the young students in American textbooks paints a picture of the Native American as a helpless victim to the tyrannical oppression of the invading Europeans. This book is one of many that shed a new light on the battle of cultures between the native inhabitants and invading colonists.

Calloway stresses that the American revolutionists maintained that their culture and that of the Native American was not as different as it appeared. The Europeans adopted the customs, attire, farming, and hunting techniques of the Native American. As they became more Indians, they began to transform themselves into what would be the early prototype of the American identity. Essentially, the European was no longer a man of his birth country, but became someone not quite wild and yet still far from his civilized former identity. The amount of mixture between the European and Native American cultures depended on the region in which they lived. Spanish settlers were less resistant to the absorption of Indian customs into their society. The definition of “American” was also different depending on the era of colonization in which a settler lived. In the early settlement time period, Native Americans were the sole individuals identified with the term “American.” By the early nineteenth century, colonists had formed their own political identity which classified them as “American.”

In explaining how the Native Americans arrived on the continent, Calloway uses the Bering Strait theory which states that the Native Americans migrated to America via the Bering Strait land bridge. Then they began an adaptation to their respective climates that would lead to “a diverse array of lifestyles.” (9) Each group molded it’s lifestyle in accordance to the area in which it resided. When Europeans encountered this land of multiple cultures on a seemingly untouched landscape, they were forced to rethink the world as they knew it. To them the mere existence of this land went against everything they knew about geology. However, some of their old world could not be left behind. Europeans often renamed New World regions with names that they were familiar with in the old world; they often tacked on the world “new” at the beginning of the place name. This method of renaming allowed the Europeans to retain a part of their old world in their new landscape.

Calloway notes that the Europeans took advantage of the depopulation of Indians due to disease. The Europeans would often take over previous Indian villages. They would replant crops or introduce new plants from their native country, build fences to border their land and hold in livestock, and begin other measures to “civilize” the area. The introduction of these new plants and animals changed the land itself by increasing erosion, depleting the soil of important nutrients, and changing the visual aspect of the land. Their hunting of animals to be skinned and the furs sold had a great impact on the ecosystem of the area. Without beavers building dams and wolves controlling the animal population the land itself began to change through erosion and an over abundance of creatures that would consume their crops.

The Native American way of life was centered on a religion that valued nature and respected animals as equals. The Indians hunted only what they needed to survive. When the Europeans arrived they began a commercialized eradication of animals for their skins. Their religion, Christianity, stated that man was superior to the animal kingdom. The Europeans presented this concept to the Indians and pushed them to conform to their lifestyle and religious beliefs. Many Native Americans rebelled against this, but many conformed out of dependence on the Europeans for items such as weapons, textiles, and cooking utensils. Conforming also made it easier to live on a day to day basis in a world that was no longer entirely theirs.

The Europeans and Native Americans borrowed warfare tactics from each other. The Native American warfare was based on weaponry that took advantage of the silent ambush; European weaponry consisted of guns which would make an ambush incapable. Native Americans also used the terrain of the land to their advantage when engaging in warfare. This method came in handy for the Europeans when they battled the British for their independence during the American Revolution. But Calloway does not mention the interactions between the European and African slaves. This missing piece would be of great importance in illustrating how the American identity was formed through cultural exchange between all cultures involved in the early American record and give evidence of the Native Americans racially mixing with the African slaves.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in order to brush up on my colonial era history for next school year. This book does a fantastic job of distills/introducing a lot of ideas from scholarly literature about the interaction of indigenous peoples and European colonists in the Americas in the 16-18th centuries. I love how the author draws examples from across the continent, not just focusing on the English colonies. Very good read.

[Sarah Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its a history book, so I won't waste time saying that if you're looking for a page-turner to get you through the fall, this probably isn't it.
But the material is fascinating and a must-read for Americans who have misconceptions about their nation's origin... or for anyone interested in whats left of history erased.

[Karissa Newell · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

While I think this information was all valuable and important to know, especially since a lot of schools skimp out on details about natives and their contact with Europeans, the book could have been a whole lot shorter. Calloway expand on his point to the point to where it was just repetitive.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

In his book New Worlds for All: Indians, European, and the Remaking of Early America James Calloway argues against the conclusion of the Turner Thesis that Europeans became Americans by taming the wilderness and instead focuses on the changes brought about to Europeans as result of their interaction with natives and vice versa. In fact, he contends that both Indians and Europeans “shaped colonial America, making it a new world [with] multiple discoveries and adaptations, as well as shifting identities” (pg 7), and argues that the importance of interaction on shaping the American identity among people of European descent must not be overlooked. His work focuses mostly on interactions between Natives and Europeans from the British Isles, but he also uses examples of interaction between natives and Spanish in the American Southwest and the French and natives in Canada. He concludes that Europeans adopted native ways in order to gain an advantage over them while believing that natives that adopted European cultural elements ceased to be Native Americans.
Europeans intended, and worked, to transform the Americas to make them more like Europe resulting in a dramatic change in the landscape and ecology of the continent. They renamed areas, occupied areas previously occupied by natives, and transformed tended forests into tended fields as they clear cut trees and planted European crops such as wheat, oats, and barely. Their quest for furs depleted the population of beavers and transformed the landscape. Europeans also introduced bees, and livestock such as hogs and cattle. Native Americans participated in many of these changes, but were compelled to adapt to all of them.
Europeans benefited from the extensive understanding of healing that Native American experts possessed. Natives used herbal remedies, as well as, sweats to provide therapy for local diseases and Europeans embraced both methods selectively. Both Europeans and Native Americans believed that diseases could have spiritual causes and that there was a plant for every malady. By contrast Native American methods of healing proved useless against European diseases that depopulated the land for European settlement.
Both Europeans and natives benefited from trade with each other, altered their diet and subsistence patterns, their dress, and their housing as a result of contact. Natives loved European trade goods such as beads, pots, pans, and cloth and many lost the ability to make essentially items that were replaced by European goods. Europeans even customized some goods, such as guns and heavy gloves, specifically for native markets. Some crafts, such as basket weaving, became more important as natives traded these goods with Europeans. Europeans adopted Native American crops, especially corn which they learned to grow from Natives. Europeans, who did not hunt in Europe due to restrictions placed on hunting, learned to hunt from natives. Europeans adopted new housing styles from natives and other Europeans, and adopted items such as canoes and snowshoes.
Native religions were much more tolerant that those of the Europeans and focused on maintaining a balance between the spiritual and earthly realm. Europeans had a much more absolute approach to faith and worked to convert natives to the Christian faith. Natives’ response to European missionaries varied between total embrace and complete rejection; however, most natives reacted by adopting elements of Christianity that they found appealing or helped them cope with the changes they were experiencing. Christians had a hard time accepting this type of syncretism and in some cases caused violent resistance, such as Pope’s rebellion when they tried to impose full conversion.
Europeans had fought for economic and territorial advantages and domination for centuries when they arrived in the Americas. They also brought with them deadly technologies such as firearms and steel armor and swords as well as animals like horses and dogs that could be used effectively in warfare. By contrast, natives fought small, limited engagements that were designed to gain captors as replacements for dead loved ones and restore balance to the world. Their warfare was highly ritualized, but contact with Europeans compelled natives to adopt guerilla hit and run tactics. When natives acquired European firearms their tendency to shot at individual animals, or people, resulted in this type of warfare becoming far more brutal. Europeans, in their efforts to fight natives, introduced a form of brutality new to the Americas in which they targeted villages and crops. Natives, in turn, began to fight for the purpose of gaining slaves for trade rather than as replacements. This gave birth to a new form of fighting that was uniquely American and was used by Europeans in the French and Indian War and by revolutionaries in the American Revolution.
Diplomacy in the New World faced multiple challenges. First, Europeans had a hard time understanding that different groups of natives had different interests and wished to treat them as all the same which could lead to concussion. Second, Europeans negotiated peace treaties in Europe and then sought to impose them on natives. Third, natives recognized that they could play European rivals against each other to their own advantage. Fourth, natives and Europeans had different attitudes towards land which led to several confusions over negotiations. Europeans, in their efforts to negotiate with natives, used interpreters who often lived among natives to master their languages and culture. Europeans adopted gift giving and adopted and spread the use of the calumet to start negotiations and the exchange of Wampum to record negotiations. Natives embraced the use of brandy and toasts, but never trusted the written documents that Europeans created and often contradicted the natives’ oral and Wampum records.
In contrast to European observations, most native groups were not nomadic prior to contact and those that were did not move listlessly, but followed seasonal patterns. Europeans, driven by their hunger for land, in contrast, were constantly moving westward as growing populations settled land and subsequent generations or immigrants were compelled to move to the west. Europeans displaced natives who were pushed ahead of the wave of Europeans and moved to the west as well. Some new groups emerged in the west composed of refugees and new groups emerged as groups moved and fragmented. Finally, the introduction of the horse created a new culture of nomadic hunters on the Great Plains.
Europeans and Native peoples interacted with each other. Europeans lived among Natives including Jesuit missionaries and those kidnapped and adopted into natives groups. Some Europeans even ran away from masters to join natives groups. Those natives living among Europeans did so as potential converts, especially among the Puritans, and laborers. Both groups adopted new words that helped them to describe the new tools, animals, concepts, and shelters they encountered.
Contact between Native Americans and Europeans gave birth to new groups of people. Interracial mingling, especially in Spanish colonies, created new racial identities. Native American groups created more centralized forms of leadership to resist European advancement more effectively. As native American populations were devastated by diseases and displacement, new tribal identities emerged as refugees formed amalgamated groups. Women lost social, economic, and political status in many native American groups as the status of men was enhanced through interaction, both in trade and negotiations, with Europeans. Americans adopted a more relaxed approach to child rearing than their European counterparts due to Native American influence. Calloway largely rejects the notion that colonists were inspired by Native American forms of government during the American Revolution, but insists that Americans attitudes were shaped by natives in that they both feared and admired native liberty.
One of the themes that is repeated in James Calloway’s books is that Native Americans and European settlers actually came into conflict largely because the way that they provided for themselves was similar enough that they competed for the same land and resources. This argument makes a lot of sense, until one considers how alien a civilization would have to be for humans of any kind not to come into conflict with it. Regardless of how similar or different they were, they would compete for the same resources. Considering historical conflicts between nomadic and sedentary people demonstrates that even people with very different economies are still going to fight over resources and land when they both need it for their survival and cannot effectively negotiate some kind of sharing agreement.
Another theme that is repeated often is that Europeans and natives adapted their way of life to deal with the new realities created by contact, but that does not mean that they ceased to be natives and Europeans. Both Europeans and Native Americans adopted elements of each other's dress. In both cases, this demonstrated their status as an ambassador, or sorts, that could serve as a mediator between the two cultures. But settlers did cease to be Europeans in many ways; however, they still remained more like Europeans than like the natives.
James Calloway’s work demonstrates that the Columbian Exchange involved much more than just the exchange of goods, crops, and diseases. The Columbian Exchange altered the landscape of North American, the ecology of North America, and many elements of Native American cultures. For example, the Natives altered the way they built houses. Whereas in the past, natives had built shelters to accommodate clans, post-contact shelters were designed to house sling family units among many groups.
Question: Calloway states that “Modern American cities face enormous challenges as they try to accommodate peoples of different ethnic backgrounds, but it is the scale of the challenge, not the challenge itself, that is unprecedented.” (pg. 188) What lessons can be gleaned from the interaction between natives and Europeans in Colonial America that can help modern people effectively deal with challenges associated with ethnic diversity?

[Jim Drewery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Colin Calloway further advances his neo-progressive vision of the history of the Americas, in New Worlds for All. Discarding traditional historical accounts of Christopher Columbus 'discovering' the 'New World' in 1492, Calloway asserts instead that Columbus merely facilitated the connection between the two worlds, both of which were filled with peoples who had massed into their own related, but yet distinctively unique cultures, each with its own language, religion, and customs. Over time in both worlds, different groups had at various times made war on each other, and lived in peace, worshiped different gods, intermarried, and established commerce and trade among themselves. They developed complex trading routes connecting their settlements across great distances in both spheres. In essence the author contends that beyond the Europeans' obvious technological advantages in weaponry, sailing, and trans-oceanic navigation, the two worlds shared many commonalities as well.
Despite these similarities, from the onset the two cultures looked upon each other from radically different world views which had been indelibly etched upon their sensibilities, handed down and reinforced through countless generations. Each tried to make sense of the seemingly strange tongue, manners, and habits of the other, based upon their own cultural norms. Thus Europeans saw the Amerindians as backward, uncivilized heathens desperately in need of Christian salvation, which they would get around to, right after they plundered the wealth of resources the Indians' lands contained, which these foolish childlike creatures were virtually ignoring and utterly wasting. The Amerindians by contrast for the most part viewed Europeans as yet another new tribe to be reckoned with, which although powerful, was composed of curious, rather arrogant individuals who were weak without the great magical equalizer, their guns. They were incapable of taking care of themselves left to their own devices, very naive to the ways of Mother Earth, extremely wasteful and unappreciative of her gifts. Everywhere they went disease, despair, waste, and destruction followed.
Central to the premise of Calloway's work is the quite logical idea that from the moment of that first encounter between Europeans and Native Americans, both of their worlds were irrevocably changed. Calloway manages to pack a wealth of examples into just under two hundred pages divided into theme oriented chapters, each focusing on the ideas and actions of all the parties involved, regarding such varied areas as religion and ceremonies, inter-tribal and gender relations, warfare and slavery, commerce and trade, disease and medicine. With these areas in mind he examines and synthesizing the work of prominent pioneers of American historiography like Bernard Bailyn, Frederick Jackson Turner, and James Axtell, for clues and examples of how this related to different groups of Amerindians who once thrived in the southwestern as well as the north and south eastern parts of North America. Calloway concludes that in each of these areas both European and Indian culture absorbed and evolved elements from the other which it found beneficial, while rejecting what it found too objectionable or unnecessary. Those interactions between Amerindians and Europeans expounded changes which ultimately led, after some three centuries of societal cultural evolution, to the emergence of a unique new species of humans, the Americans.
Published sixteen years ago in 1997, New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America, was the eighth offering from Calloway's prolific pen, coming roughly a decade after the beginning of the distinguished ethnohistorian's career. He has been on the faculty of Dartmouth College for nearly a quarter century, where he is a Professor of History and Native American Studies. He has published more than a dozen books focusing on the genre of Native American history and has served as editor on other literary projects on the topic as well. All have been well received within the academy and in 2011 his lifetime of academic and literary endeavors was honored by the Western Historical Society, with the American Indian History Lifetime Achievement Award. This volume was one of his first offerings aimed more specifically at a wider reading audience beyond the academic arena. However judging from the pristine condition of the now sixteen year old library copy obtained for this review, casual readers with an interest in well researched and written historical works are in rather short supply. This is truly a shame, because this book while sparsely illustrated, is a relatively easy read that provides readers with an insightful glimpse into the creation of a new world system. It is the story of just one ball of the roots of the great tree today known as globalization, but a very important part of what makes us all Americans, and if we don't know how we became who we are, we are destined most likely to repeat and perpetuate the mistakes of the past.
While this is an excellent survey of relations between Whites and Indians from 1492 through the birth of the early and early years of the American republic, the overview is too broad and sweeping to present a full picture of the topic necessary for advanced scholarship. It does serve however as an excellent road map to a treasure trove of primary and early secondary source material for the graduate student of Native American studies. Also in retrospect the book's scope goes well beyond the historic niche covered by this course and was therefore perhaps not an ideal choice of volumes to review for this assignment.

[Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Calloway provides an insightful study of how Native American and European cultures interacted and affected one another during the long period of contact, assimilation, and conquest. He takes a topical approach, covering everything from food, clothing, and lodging; to warfare; to diplomacy; to religion.

[Jana Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Depressingly illuminating on the realities of American colonialism. Does a lot to take away any generalizations you may have had about Native Americans and how the different tribes and peoples interacted with colonists and missionaries.

[Bogash · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good companion to many other books on early American history

[Trey Emerson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of the Columbian impact on North America, though I found it organized a bit strangely and I greatly preferred 1491.

[Cynthia Mitchell-Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informational, in fact I liked the book. Great for the American history class I took. I recommend reading this book especially if you are a history buff.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting cross disciplinary approach to understanding how the interactions between Native Americans and Europeans affected both groups and the land they inhabited.

[Caleb Lagerwey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an eminently readable and quite insightful synthesis of a ton of ethnohistory at the intersection of Europeans and Native societies. Calloway shows how neither group was monolithic or remained unchanged from contact with the other. He references many seminal texts, making this an excellent resource for instructors and students alike. The book is organized thematically, rather than chronologically, so it's easy to excerpt or use as needed. I really appreciated his blending of quotes, stories, people, and statistics that kept the narrative moving while providing substantial evidence in the chapters and footnotes.

[Evan Hays · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really quite a good basic introduction to the history and historiography of the pre-colonial and early colonial period in American history. I read this as a brush up before I teach the first half of American history this fall, and this ended up being perfect. The author does an excellent job of being concise and of integrating the great scholarship (the longer and more technical scholarship) that I don't have time to get into. For example, I have only read part of William Cronon's Changes in the Land, New Worlds for All admits that one of its early chapters is essentially drawn from that.

Essentially the point is that the relationship is a mutual one, for both good and bad. It is not as if Europeans just destroyed everything and remade America in their own image. Native Americans and Europeans both impacted each other, and the new things that came out of that have forever changed the face of the world. For example, imagine Italy without tomatoes, right?

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Worlds for All provides an introduction to the cultural interactions between Europeans (not just the English in New England) and Native Americans that changed both sides. If you've read much about the European settlement of the Americas, many of the ideas presented here will probably be at least vaguely familiar. Calloway includes just enough detail to keep things interesting without being overwhelming. The one topic per chapter organization makes it easy to read this book a bit at a time without feeling lost when you pick it up again.

[Sam Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. Calloway really shows the extent to which Europeans and Indians took from each other and each developed unique characteristics that they wouldn't have had otherwise. I enjoyed the military chapter where European colonists learned the value of guerrilla-style warfare and marksmanship and where Indians learned the value of guns and annihilation.

[Brian Andersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

We still tend to thing of our past in static terms as if people and ideas were always as they are. This is a very worthy book that describes the impact and influences of Indian and European culture on one another over the centuries.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Indian and British people combining cultures in America in 18th century.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introductory book on Native Americans. Clearly written and segmented, it is a great book to assign to undergraduate students.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intellectually stimulating but entertainingly dry.