Daily Life of Native Americans from Post-Columbian Through Nineteenth-century America

When Columbus discovered America in 1492, there were over five hundred indigenous groups living in what is now the United States. Despite the breathtaking diversity and inventiveness of these peoples, the culture, customs, and history of Native Americans are relatively unknown to many students and general readers today. In ten narrative chapters, organized by geographical region, Nash and Strobel examine the real history of Native Americans. How did Natives interact with European settlers? Did they really have pow-wows? Where did Indian children go to school? Did chiefs really wear feathered headdresses and smoke peace pipes? Dispelling the myths and stereotypes, the day-to-day lives of these tribes and groups during a time of tremendous change is discussed. Chapters include details of daily life such as: clothing; colonization; education; farming & hunting; households & homes; leadership & political power; spirituality, rituals & customs; trade & alliance; warfare; women's & children's roles. Readers will learn the "other" history of indigenous people; not what is told in many history books, or seen in Hollywood movies and old westerns.

ALICE NASH is Associate Professor of Native American and Early American History at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Her research interests center on the impact of colonization on the indigenous peoples of northeastern North America with a particular focus in family and gender relations. She is the author of Spirit, Power and Protocol: Wabanaki Histories to 1800 (forthcoming)

CHRISTOPH STROBEL is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He teaches courses in world, Native American, African, and Middle Eastern history. Much of his research and writing deals with issues of race and colonization.