New England Frontier - A Thanksgiving Primer

http://brianleesblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/new-england-fronier.html

I wanted to send you information about this book which might be a good book to read before thanksgiving. It tries to give a fair, but accurate account of the times of the pilgrims. Anyway, let me know if you have any comments about it.

http://www.amazon.com/New-England-Frontier-Puritans-1620-1675/dp/080612718X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195246537&sr=8-1

http://worldcat.org/oclc/466398&referer=brief_results

Browse Sample Pages:Front Cover Copyright Table of Contents Excerpt Index Back Cover Surprise Me!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
The Early, Early Show, May 19, 2007ByBomojaz (South Central PA, USA)
A sensitive and sensible look at English-Indian relations in New England, 1620-1675. Vaughan attempts to dispel a number of myths (myths that have only intensified over time), by demonstrating that: 1) The Puritans did not push the New England Indians off their land. Indians owned and sold their land. 2) The Puritans did not deplete the food source of the natives. Game did decrease as more and more English settled in, but Indians were agricultural and grew most of their food. 3) The Puritans did not upset the Indians' economic pattern by underpaying them for goods and services. The tools Indians received from the English as payment for furs and land, for instance, were highly prized. 4) The Puritans did not kill off the Indians in a series of military actions. Warring tribes probably caused as many Indian deaths as the English, and the immediate causes of the Pequot War and King Philip's War were complicated and emerged from both sides. 5) Indians were not mistreated out of hand by the English in legal cases; for example, the death penalty for murder applied to all, regardless of race. Indians were frequently compensated for damaged property caused by the colonists' livestock. 6) The Puritans were not indifferent to the physical, moral, and spiritual well-being of the Indians. Puritans did not even regard the natives as a different race, but rather as white men with different features caused by their environment and "debased" by the Devil. Like themselves, they viewed the Indian as a creature fallen from Grace, and worthy of salvation. I am not expert enough to know exactly on which side of these "myths" the truth actually lies, though I suspect Vaughan is more correct than not. The political incorrectness of his views, however, seem fairly obvious and would probably receive little consideration today or be dismissed out of hand. This would be unfortunate, however, for much of what Vaughan has to say seems fair and reasonable. For all that, it's an interesting book, well written, and, in a provocative way that older historical works often are, a breath of fresh air.
13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
Tribes and Colonies, June 17, 2002By"guiscard" (Toms River, NJ United States)
In 1620 the English Puritans settled in the region they called New England. There they met the natives, the Indians. This book explains how the Puritans and Indians related with each other until 1675. Vaughan demonstrates that the Puritans did not exploit the Indians as often believed but dealt fairly with them. He neither denigrates nor whitewashes either the Puritans or the Indians, but is fair to both sides.Vaughan describes the Indians, their beliefs and customs, and what they thought of the Puritans. Vaughan also portrays the beliefs and customs of the Puritans and their attitudes towards the Indians. Vaughan recounts how the Puritans and the Indians allied together to destroy the aggressive Pequot tribe in the Pequot war in 1637.Vaughan sketches the trade between Puritans and Indians, at first trading furs for items and later for wampum. Then he describes how the Puritans tried to fit the Indians fairly into their legal system. Finally he recounts the Puritans attempts to convert the Indians to Christianity.This is an excellent account, based on extensive primary and secondary sources, of the little known period before King Philips attack on the Puritans changed how the colonists and the Indians saw each other.