Table of Contents

Prologue: Early America as Indian Country 1. Imagining a Distant New World 2. Confronting a Material New World 3. Living with Europeans 4. Native Voices in a Colonial World 5. Native Peoples in an Imperial World 6. Separate Creations Epilogue: Eulogy from Indian Country A Technical Note Notes Acknowledgments Index

Promotional Information

From its title to its very last page, Facing East from Indian Country spins us around. But rather than dizzying, this turnabout is clarifying, freeing us from the blinders of a European perspective on the early American experience. Vast in scope yet intimate in its attention to particular people, places, and moments, Richter's book is a moving, thought-provoking work of scholarship. -- James H. Merrell, author of Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Pennsylvania Frontier Richter offers a brilliant retelling of the old stories of European colonies and empires through Native eyes. Facing East from Indian Country may be as close as any scholar has come to synthesizing an "Indian perspective" on early American history This is a book not to be missed. -- Philip J. Deloria, author of Playing Indian With keen insight, deep reading, and a sparkling wit, Richter makes new and compelling sense of American history, radically shifting our perspective on the past. Balancing vivid imagination and a respect for the unknown, Richter crafts a powerful and engaging story that is essential to understanding our place in time on this continent. -- Alan Taylor, author of William Cooper's Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic

About the Author

Daniel K. Richter is Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor of American History and the Richard S. Dunn Director of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

Reviews

Thanks to the work of Richter and others like him who have set out to break with the traditional Eurocentric narrative, ‘the people without history’ have been given back their voice.
*New York Review of Books*

In his acclaimed volume Facing East from Indian Country, Daniel Richter turns the tables on ‘conventional’ histories of early European–Indian relations by looking east from the Mississippi River rather than west from the Atlantic Ocean… Richter approaches, from the Indian perspective, the history of early contact with Europeans through the founding of the U. S., with emphasis on tribes’ immeasurable contribution to the history of the continent. He culls Native voices from surviving documents and records, pulling Indians from the periphery of white America’s memory and making them the focal point of the post-contact story.
*Indian Country Today*

Richter insists that we must look over the shoulders of American Indians to see the Europeans who settled the New World to have a complete understanding of our origins. His depiction of how these original Americans adapted to the newcomers and how they were inevitably betrayed by generations devoted to ‘freedom’ and ‘opportunity’ are especially telling.
*Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News*

[Richter] has written a provocative new interpretation of early America from pre-contact to the early 19th century… [H]e places early America in the context of Native American society and history and not solely in the rush of colonial expansion… Historians of the American West and scholars of Western Native American studies will find much value in Richter’s retelling of early American History.
*Journal of the West*

Most American histories treat North America’s indigenous peoples as ancillary to the more important story of the establishment of a European nation in the New World. What would happen if one shifted focus and transformed the usual bit-players into stars? Richter…makes that shift and produces what may, for its impeccable use of primary sources, smoothly well-wrought prose, and passionate argument, become a classic.
*Booklist*

Richter demythicizes the standard accounts…to demonstrate how white settlers consciously created false images to justify economic, religious, and military exploitation of Native inhabitants… This [is an] innovative and well-written book.
*Choice*

An excellent, ambitious attempt to restore to history long-overlooked Indians who ‘neither uncompromisingly resisted…nor wholeheartedly assimilated’ in the face of white encroachment… A hallmark in recent Native American historiography that merits wide attention.
*Kirkus Reviews*

Richter here offers a masterly work that eschews the long-standing perception that Native Americans were nothing more than marginalized bystanders as Europeans colonized North America. Focusing on the period between the 15th and 18th centuries, the author instead shows that Native American communities adapted to the many stresses introduced by the arrival of the Europeans and were active participants in creating a new way of life on the continent… [He] provides a valuable perspective that is often overlooked in books about the same period. Highly recommended for all public and academic libraries.
*Library Journal*

At the center of this bold and thoroughly astonishing history of Native Americans are narratives of three Indians generally known to Euro-Americans: Pocahontas, Blessed Catherine Tekakwitha, and the Algonquin warrior Metacom, also known as King Philip. Telling each of these stories—a romance, the life of a saint, the destruction of a ‘noble savage’—from the European and then the Native American perspective, Richter elucidates an alternative history of America from Columbus to just after the Revolution… Gracefully written and argued, Richter’s compelling research and provocative claims make this an important addition to the literature for general readers of both Native American and U.S. studies.
*Publishers Weekly*

Richter offers a brilliant retelling of the old stories of European colonies and empires through Native eyes. Facing East from Indian Country may be as close as any scholar has come to synthesizing an ‘Indian perspective’ on early American history. This is a book not to be missed.
*Philip J. Deloria, author of Playing Indian*

From its title to its very last page, Facing East from Indian Country spins us around. But rather than dizzying, this turnabout is clarifying, freeing us from the blinders of a European perspective on the early American experience. Vast in scope yet intimate in its attention to particular people, places, and moments, Richter’s book is a moving, thought-provoking work of scholarship.
*James H. Merrell, author of Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Pennsylvania Frontier*

With keen insight, deep reading, and a sparkling wit, Richter makes new and compelling sense of American history, radically shifting our perspective on the past. Balancing vivid imagination and a respect for the unknown, Richter crafts a powerful and engaging story that is essential to understanding our place in time on this continent.
*Alan Taylor, author of William Cooper’s Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic*

Thanks to the work of Richter and others like him who have set out to break with the traditional Eurocentric narrative, 'the people without history' have been given back their voice. -- J. H. Elliott * New York Review of Books *
In his acclaimed volume Facing East from Indian Country, Daniel Richter turns the tables on 'conventional' histories of early European-Indian relations by looking east from the Mississippi River rather than west from the Atlantic Ocean... Richter approaches, from the Indian perspective, the history of early contact with Europeans through the founding of the U. S., with emphasis on tribes' immeasurable contribution to the history of the continent. He culls Native voices from surviving documents and records, pulling Indians from the periphery of white America's memory and making them the focal point of the post-contact story. -- Tom Wanamaker * Indian Country Today *
Richter insists that we must look over the shoulders of American Indians to see the Europeans who settled the New World to have a complete understanding of our origins. His depiction of how these original Americans adapted to the newcomers and how they were inevitably betrayed by generations devoted to 'freedom' and 'opportunity' are especially telling. * Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News *
[Richter] has written a provocative new interpretation of early America from pre-contact to the early 19th century... [H]e places early America in the context of Native American society and history and not solely in the rush of colonial expansion... Historians of the American West and scholars of Western Native American studies will find much value in Richter's retelling of early American History. -- Joseph Key * Journal of the West *
Most American histories treat North America's indigenous peoples as ancillary to the more important story of the establishment of a European nation in the New World. What would happen if one shifted focus and transformed the usual bit-players into stars? Richter...makes that shift and produces what may, for its impeccable use of primary sources, smoothly well-wrought prose, and passionate argument, become a classic. -- Patricia Monaghan * Booklist *
Richter demythicizes the standard accounts...to demonstrate how white settlers consciously created false images to justify economic, religious, and military exploitation of Native inhabitants... This [is an] innovative and well-written book. -- M. L. Tate * Choice *
An excellent, ambitious attempt to restore to history long-overlooked Indians who 'neither uncompromisingly resisted...nor wholeheartedly assimilated' in the face of white encroachment... A hallmark in recent Native American historiography that merits wide attention. * Kirkus Reviews *
Richter here offers a masterly work that eschews the long-standing perception that Native Americans were nothing more than marginalized bystanders as Europeans colonized North America. Focusing on the period between the 15th and 18th centuries, the author instead shows that Native American communities adapted to the many stresses introduced by the arrival of the Europeans and were active participants in creating a new way of life on the continent... [He] provides a valuable perspective that is often overlooked in books about the same period. Highly recommended for all public and academic libraries. -- John Burch * Library Journal *
At the center of this bold and thoroughly astonishing history of Native Americans are narratives of three Indians generally known to Euro-Americans: Pocahontas, Blessed Catherine Tekakwitha, and the Algonquin warrior Metacom, also known as King Philip. Telling each of these stories-a romance, the life of a saint, the destruction of a 'noble savage'-from the European and then the Native American perspective, Richter elucidates an alternative history of America from Columbus to just after the Revolution... Gracefully written and argued, Richter's compelling research and provocative claims make this an important addition to the literature for general readers of both Native American and U.S. studies. * Publishers Weekly *
Richter offers a brilliant retelling of the old stories of European colonies and empires through Native eyes. Facing East from Indian Country may be as close as any scholar has come to synthesizing an 'Indian perspective' on early American history. This is a book not to be missed. -- Philip J. Deloria, author of Playing Indian
From its title to its very last page, Facing East from Indian Country spins us around. But rather than dizzying, this turnabout is clarifying, freeing us from the blinders of a European perspective on the early American experience. Vast in scope yet intimate in its attention to particular people, places, and moments, Richter's book is a moving, thought-provoking work of scholarship. -- James H. Merrell, author of Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Pennsylvania Frontier
With keen insight, deep reading, and a sparkling wit, Richter makes new and compelling sense of American history, radically shifting our perspective on the past. Balancing vivid imagination and a respect for the unknown, Richter crafts a powerful and engaging story that is essential to understanding our place in time on this continent. -- Alan Taylor, author of William Cooper's Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic

At the center of this bold and thoroughly astonishing history of Native Americans are narratives of three Indians generally known to Euro-Americans: Pocahontas, Blessed Catherine Tekakwitha and the Algonquin warrior Metacom, also known as King Philip. Telling each of these stories a romance, the life of a saint, the destruction of a "noble savage" from the European and then the Native American perspective, Richter elucidates an alternative history of America from Columbus to just after the Revolution. Taking his cues from historian Carl Becker's famous assertion that history is "an imaginative creation," Richter, director of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, recasts early American history from the Native American point of view and in doing so illuminates as much about the Europeans as about the original Americans. After explaining the vast scope of Native American culture probably more then two million native people lived east of the Mississippi in 1492 in villages that were "decentralized and diverse, but not disconnected" Richter reconstructs the Native American experience of the European. Using a variety of sources missionary tracts, official state art (the seal of the Massachusetts Bay Company featured a native with the words "Come Over and Help Us"), military reports and religious writings by both Europeans and Native Americans he describes a world far more layered than that of accepted U.S. history. Exploring the varying complexities of different native peoples' relationships with England, France and Spain, he argues that the Native Americans were safer during the colonial era than after the Revolution, when the idea of a white, democratic country took hold. Gracefully written and argued, Richter's compelling research and provocative claims make this an important addition to the literature for general readers of both Native American and U.S. studies. (Dec.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.