Indigenous continent : the epic contest for North America

Author

Pekka Hämäläinen

Call Number

• 970.00497 H1986 (CEN)

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Edition

First edition.

Publication Information

New York, NY : Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, [2022]

Physical Description

xiv, 571 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Summary

"This nation's history and self-understanding have long depended on the notion of a 'colonial America,' an epoch that supposedly laid the foundation for the modern United States. In Indigenous Continent, Pekka Hämäläinen overturns the traditional, Eurocentric narrative, demonstrating that, far from being weak and helpless 'victims' of European colonialism, Indigenous peoples controlled North America well into the 19th century. From the Iroquois and Pueblos to the Lakotas and Comanches, Native empires frequently decimated white newcomers in battle, forcing them to accept and even adopt Native ways. Even as the white population skyrocketed and colonists' land greed become ever more extravagant, Indigenous peoples flourished due to sophisticated diplomacy and flexible leadership structures. As Hämäläinen ultimately contends, instead of 'colonial America' we should speak of an 'Indigenous America' that was only slowly and unevenly becoming colonial. In our myth-busting era, this restoration of Native Americans to their rightful place at the very center of American history will be seen as one of the most important correctives yet"--

Contents

• Introduction : The myth of colonial America
• The world on the turtle's back
• The egalitarian continent
• Blind conquests
• Terra nullius
• The Powhatan empire
• Wars at the water's edge
• The Pequots shall no more be called Pequots
• The rise of the five nations league
• Enemies of the faith
• The power of weakness
• The English as a little child
• Metacom's challenge
• Virginia's civil and uncivil wars
• The great southwestern rebellion
• Holding the line
• They smelled like alligators
• An infinity of rancherías
• Magic dogs
• Wars to the end of the world
• British America besieged
• Worldly and otherworldly wars of independence
• A second Chinese wall
• The American crucible
• Western promises
• The white devil with his mouth wide open
• The long removal era
• The Comanche ascendancy
• The Lakota shield
• Epilogue : Revenge and revival.