First Americans: A History of Native Peoples

Kenneth W. Townsend

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781032363707
• eBook ISBN: 9781000895568
• Edition: 3
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Early American History
• Index: History

Now in its third edition, First Americans has been fully updated to trace Native Americans' experiences through the 2020 election and the Biden administration, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the crisis of murdered and missing indigenous women.

This book provides a comprehensive history of Native Americans from their earliest appearances in North America to the present, highlighting the complexity and diversity of their cultures and experiences. Contrasting the misconception that Native Americans were consistently victims without power, native voices permeate the text and shape its narrative, underlining the vitality of native peoples and cultures in the context of regional, continental, and global developments. The new edition highlights the role of Native Americans as agents of resistance and progress, rooted in the perspective that their activism has been instrumental throughout history and in the present day. To enrich student understanding, the book also includes a variety of pedagogical tools including short biographical profiles, key review questions, a rich series of maps and illustrations, chapter chronologies, a glossary, and recommendations for further reading.

Spanning centuries of developments into the present day, First Americans is the approachable, essential student introduction to Native American history.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Endorsement
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Maps
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Native North America Before European Contact
• 2 Native Peoples and European Newcomers, 982–1590
• 3 Spanish Borderlands, 1527–1758
• 4 Europeans and the Eastern Woodlands to 1689
• 5 Native Americans and European Empire, 1700–1763
• 6 The Indians’ Revolution, 1763–1814
• 7 Removal, 1801–1846
• 8 Western Indians and the United States, 1800–1850
• 9 The Civil War Years, 1861–1865
• 10 Conflicting Postwar Directions, 1865–1877
• 11 The Struggle for Cultural Identity, 1877–1910
• 12 Progressivism and World War I: : Charting Their Own Course in the Twentieth Century, 1900–1920
• 13 Postwar Directions for Native Americans, 1918–1929
• 14 The Great Depression, 1929–1940
• 15 American Indians Join the War Effort, 1940–1945
• 16 Redefining the Status of Native Americans in Post–World War II America, 1943–1962
• 17 Indian Activism in the Age of Liberalism, 1961–1980
• 18 Self-Determination to Decolonization: : Native Americans into the Twenty-First Century
• 19 “We’re Still Here”
• Appendix—Federally Recognized Tribes in the United States
• Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts
• Bibliography
• Index