Blood and Land

A rich, powerful, sweeping history of native North America, from one of the world's greatest expertsBlood and Land is a personal view of the success and achievements of Native North America, and of today's challenges. It is about why Native Americans, First Nations and Arctic peoples matter today and why no understanding of the wider world is possible without comprehending the United States and Canada through their original inhabitants.

“"A history of resilience . . . sweeping, comprehensive . . . it's a story that has been waiting to be told." -- Guardian”

Resisting the tendency toward generalisation that is the inherent danger of thematic survey, King emphasises singularity, contrast and diversification ... the early sections of the chapter on language and literature contain the most lucid and succinct discussion of the nature, origin and diversification of Native American languages - a subject central to the understanding of Native American history - that I have ever read ... [an] excellent panoramic survey -- Ciaran Brady Irish Times
Blood and Land is an account - at least from my American perspective - sorely needed...general histories of Native America are difficult to write and King does a superlative job -- David Bahr Standpoint
Blood and Land is to be commended for its ambition. The subjects covered are fascinating ... an eminently readable work -- Karen Jones BBC History Magazine
A panoramic portrait ...a delight for the browsers and sifters among us who may be more engaged by the stories of early 20th century Kikapoo travelling snake-oil salesmen than by the minutiae of constitutional haggling and treaty-making -- Melanie McGrath Evening Standard
King sees through clear and intelligent eyes, with a scholarship that is deep, wide, and liberated from cliché or stereotype, the vast complexities and nuances that motivate and shape not only the past but, even more important, the present and future of the first citizens of North America. -- W. Richard West, Jr. Founding Director, Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian

J.C.H. King is currently the von H gel Fellow at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. He worked at the British Museum for nearly forty years. Latterly he was the Keeper of Anthropology in what is now the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas. He has travelled extensively in North America, from the California Missions to Nunavut, and the Everglades to Point Barrow, working with many different Native people to understand cultures and to explain difficult histories for a general public.

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