Natives and Newcomers

The Cultural Origins of North America

Author: Axtell

Illustrations list Preface Prologue Part I. Contacts Introduction 1. Imagining the Other: First Encounters 2. Babel of Tongues: Communciating with the Indians Part II. Consumption Introductin 3. At the Water's Edge: Trading in the Sixteenth Century 4. The First Consumer Revolution: The Seventeenth Century 5. Making Do: Trade in the Eighteenth-Century Southeast Part III. Conversions Introduction 6. The Invasion Within: The Contest of Cultures 7. Dr. Wheelock's Little Red School 8. The White Indians Part IV. Clashes Introduction 9. The Spanish Incursion 10. The Rise and Fall of the Powhatan Empire 11. The Moral Dilemmas of Scalping Part V. Consequences Introduction 12. The Columbian Mosaic 13. Native Reactions to the Invasion of America 14. The Indian impact on English Colonial Culture Notes Index

Since the 1970s, historians have come to realize that the shape and temper of early America were determined as much by its Indian natives as by its European colonizers. This volume describes the major encounters between Indians and Europeans and probes their consequences for both cultures.

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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 oftenwitty 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 religiousconversions, 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.

Critic Reviews

“"With admirable clarity, good humor, and methodological rigor, Axtell has succeeded in telling the story of those often hopeful, yet ill-fated, early encounters between vastly different groups of people."--The Journal of Interdisciplinary History”

"Gracefully written and persuasively argued, this collection of essays is Axtell at his best. The essays explore the various social, political, and economic consequences of interactions between Natives and Europeans in early North America with Axtell's usual insight, his keen eye for nuance, and a coherence that belies their origins as separate works. Natives and Newcomers is a wonderful model of the practice of ethnohistory and a superb introductionto the topic of inter-cultural exchange and to the cultural origins of North America. This book is ideal for classroom use in a variety of disciplines."-José António Brandão, Western Michigan University"Vividly written, smartly argued, and wide-ranging, Axtell's interconnected essays explore both the conflicts and conjunctures that characterized early Indian-European relations in North America. I can't imagine a more engaging way to enter this lost world than through the crystalline prose of this master essayist, who turns his ethnohistorian's gaze on newcomers and natives alike."-David J. Weber, Southern Methodist University"A pioneer in ethnohistory, James Axtell brings wit, clarity, and erudition to the study of Early American encounters. What gives this collection of essays special power is Axtell's insistence that the history of cultural encounter is a profoundly human story, a continuing struggle under often horrendous circumstances to establish mutual understandings. In a fiercely contested field of scholarship, Axtell provides his readers with many original insights thatshould promote rich discussion."-T. H. Breen, Northwestern University

About the Author

James Axtell is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Humanities at the College of William and Mary. He is the author of numerous books, including the award-winning "The Invasion Within: The Contest of Cultures in Colonial North America,"

More on this Book

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.