New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America Hardcover - 1997

From the publisher

"Calloway employs lucid prose and captivating examples to remind us that neither Indians nor Colonists were a monolithic group... The result is a more nuanced appreciation for the complexity of cultural relationships in Colonial America... He surveys this complex story with imagination and insight and provides an essential starting point for all those interested in the interaction of Europeans and Indians in early American life." -- David R. Shi, Christian Science Monitor

Although many Americans consider the establishment of the colonies as the birth of this country, in fact Early America already existed long before the arrival of the Europeans. From coast to coast, Native Americans had created enduring cultures, and the subsequent European invasion remade much of the existing land and culture. In New Worlds for All, Colin Calloway explores the unique and vibrant new cultures that Indians and Europeans forged together in early America. The journey toward this hybrid society kept Europeans' and Indians' lives tightly entwined: living, working, worshiping, traveling, and trading together--as well as fearing, avoiding, despising, and killing one another. In the West, settlers lived in Indian towns, eating Indian food. In Mohawk Valley, New York, Europeans tattooed their faces; Indians drank tea. And, a unique American identity emerged.

"Colin Calloway's grand synthesis of the experience of Indiansand other Americans before 1800 is exceptional in its breadth of vision. Taking as his canvas the entire North American continent--examining everything from war and disease to trade and sex, from clothes and houses to foods and cures--he nonetheless never loses sight of the individual, human story, the vivid encounter or striking incident that brings the past to life." -- James H. Merrell, Vassar College