About the Author

Peter Silver is an assistant professor of history at Princeton University. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

Reviews

"Penetrates searchingly into a dark chapter of Colonial history."
*Boston Globe*

"Penetrates searchingly into a dark chapter of Colonial history." -- Boston Globe

Through an examination of the frontier regions of Britain's middle provinces in North America, which included Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, and Maryland, Silver (history, Princeton Univ.) eloquently explains how violence united groups that were initially divided by linguistic, racial, and religious differences. The work focuses on the period between the 1740s and 1780s, when the region was wracked by conflicts such as the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. Through graphic illustrations and quotes from the period, the author vividly demonstrates how extremists created paranoia among white Europeans that eventually led to the emergence of a white nationalism built on the common experience of a perceived victimization by Indians. Silver also demonstrates that Native American groups were affected in the same manner by the frontier violence, as a number of pan-Indian movements emerged that united disparate Native American groups in order to protect their communities from the numerous atrocities visited upon them by the white Europeans. This fascinating study on the role of frontier violence in forging a uniquely American psyche is highly recommended for academic and public libraries.-John Burch, Campbellsville Univ. Lib., KY Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.