First Encounters: Native Voices on the Coming of the Europeans

A collection comprising a wide variety of accounts of native peoples describing their initial encounters with European explorers, conquerors, and settlers.

This extraordinary volume gathers together an astonishing array of voices of those so often overlooked by history. First Encounters: Native Voices on the Coming of the Europeans reaches back to add important overlooked viewpoints to our understanding of history, gathering together accounts describing the initial experiences of indigenous peoples around the world with European explorers, missionaries, traders, soldiers, and settlers. It is the first such volume with a truly global perspective.

First Encounters brings together 42 authentic, first-person accounts, organized geographically in sections on Africa, North America, South America, greater Australia, and Asia. Selections, each with editor's notes, provide vivid, detailed accounts of the culture clashes that defined an era. From the Opium Wars to the Indian Wars, from the Aztecs who thought the white intruders were gods to the Japanese who thought them barbarians, readers will encounter a stunning array of voices from the other side of history.

Author: Howard Leavitt
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 06/30/2010
Pages: 292
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.75lbs
Size: 10.00h x 7.10w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780313351310

Review Citation(s):
Choice 04/01/2011
Library Journal 11/01/2010 pg. 90
Reference and Research Bk News 11/01/2010 pg. 85

About the Author

Howard B. Leavitt, PhD, is a retired academic with a doctorate from Columbia University.