Encounters in the New World

Jill Lepore is an Associate Professor of History at Boston University, where she also serves as Director of Undergraduate Studies for American and New England Studies. Her previous works include A is for American: Letters and Other Characters in the Newly United States (Knopf, 2002) and The Name of War: King Philip's War and American Identity (Knopf, 1998), Winner of the Bancroft Prize, Ralph Waldo Emerson Award, Berkshire Prize, and the New England Historical Association Prize, and a selection of the History Book Club.

• What is a Document?How to Read a DocumentIntroductionOn the Turtle's BackWhy Europe?Dealing with the Documents1. Mapping the WorldPtolemy's RevolutionThe Christian WorldAn Expanding WorldAmerica EmergesVanishing MapsLines and Circles2. First EncountersProphecies, Plans, and FantasiesFirst ImpressionsGods? Savages?Dividing the SexesA Catalog of NatureIndians Abroad3. Conquest and ResistanceMontezuma, Quetzalcoatl, and CortesAn Eight-Year JourneyInvading the InteriorThe Great DebateMissions and Presidios4. Furs, Rivers, and Black RobesThe Peoples of the LonghouseA New FranceThe Society of JesusNew Worlds, New WomenCovenants of War and Peace5. The English ArriveGo WestRoanoke, the Lost ColonyPowhatan and His PeopleFounding JamestownPocahontas and Her Legacy6. Africans in AmericaKidnappedTips for Slave TradersShips of DeathFor SaleAfricans' New WorldsTwo ViewsRunaways and Rebels7. Planting New EnglandMetacom's RebellionManitou and the City on a HillMarking the LandscapePraying IndiansTimelineFurther ReadingText CreditsPicture CreditsIndex

Students of American history will find plenty to chew on in this meaty, heavily illustrated entry in the new Pages from History series....Beginning with a full-color section, the pictures are...heavy on maps that chart the world's expansion in the European consciousness and including often fanciful scenes that in many cases are all that is left of vanished Native American cultures.... [Lepore] draws from a host of hard-to-find sources, and creates a ghastly, compelling picture of one of human history's pivotal moments.