Winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for History Encounters at the Heart of the World concerns the Mandan Indians, iconic Plains people whose teeming, busy towns on the upper Missouri River were for centuries at the center of the North American universe. We know of them mostly because Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1804-1805 with them, but why don't we know more? Who were they really? In this extraordinary book, Elizabeth A. Fenn retrieves their history by piecing together important new discoveries in archaeology, anthropology, geology, climatology, epidemiology, and nutritional science. Her boldly original interpretation of these diverse research findings offers us a new perspective on early American history, a new interpretation of the American past. By 1500, more than twelve thousand Mandans were established on the northern Plains, and their commercial prowess, agricultural skills, and reputation for hospitality became famous. Recent archaeological discoveries show how these Native American people thrived, and then how they collapsed. The damage wrought by imported diseases like smallpox and the havoc caused by the arrival of horses and steamboats were tragic for the Mandans, yet, as Fenn makes clear, their sense of themselves as a people with distinctive traditions endured. A riveting account of Mandan history, landscapes, and people, Fenn's narrative is enriched and enlivened not only by science and research but by her own encounters at the heart of the world.

Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People

History

Fenn, Elizabeth A.

Americas

Hill and Wang

Natives and Newcomers describes North Carolina's Indians and the dramatic changes that occurred when Europeans and Africans entered their land. North Carolinians of the nineteenth century dwelt in an agrarian world. It is the first volume in The Way We Lived in North Carolina, a pioneering series that uses historic places as windows to the past. Even before Raleigh's "lost colony," Europeans had explored the coast and the mountains. the first permanent newcomers were English migrants from Virginia, followed after 1715 by planters and slaves from South Carolina. In the next half-century, thousands of German, Scotch-Irish, and Scottish settlers came by boat from Europe and by wagon from the North. Those who carved out farms in the piedmont had little in common with coastal planters or the backcountry elite of lawyers, judges, and merchants. By the late 1760s, western farmers organized as Regulators to protest unjust taxes, corrupt courts, and threats to private property -- issues that would soon reappear as part of the patriot rhetoric of the American Revolution. Locations used to illuminate this early period range from the Town Creek Indian Mound to Governor Tryon's Palace. Sites include not only colonial plantations, churches, and forts, but also frontier cabins, wilderness parks, historic trails, and Indian settlements.

Natives and Newcomers: The Way We Lived in North Carolina before 1770

Wood, Peter H.

The University of North Carolina Press

Natives and Newcomers describes North Carolina's Indians and the dramatic changes that occurred when Europeans and Africans entered their land. North Carolinians of the nineteenth century dwelt in an agrarian world. It is the first volume in The Way We Lived in North Carolina, a pioneering series that uses historic places as windows to the past.Even before Raleigh's "lost colony," Europeans had explored the coast and the mountains. the first permanent newcomers were English migrants from Virginia, followed after 1715 by planters and slaves from South Carolina. In the next half-century, thousands of German, Scotch-Irish, and Scottish settlers came by boat from Europe and by wagon from the North. Those who carved out farms in the piedmont had little in common with coastal planters or the backcountry elite of lawyers, judges, and merchants. By the late 1760s, western farmers organized as Regulators to protest unjust taxes, corrupt courts, and threats to private property -- issues that would soon reappear as part of the patriot rhetoric of the American Revolution.Locations used to illuminate this early period range from the Town Creek Indian Mound to Governor Tryon's Palace. Sites include not only colonial plantations, churches, and forts, but also frontier cabins, wilderness parks, historic trails, and Indian settlements.

Natives and Newcomers: The Way We Lived in North Carolina Before 1770

Alexander, Christine

Fenn, Elizabeth

Univ of North Carolina Pr

Winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for History Encounters at the Heart of the World concerns the Mandan Indians, iconic Plains people whose teeming, busy towns on the upper Missouri River were for centuries at the center of the North American universe. We know of them mostly because Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1804-1805 with them, but why don't we know more? Who were they really? In this extraordinary book, Elizabeth A. Fenn retrieves their history by piecing together important new discoveries in archaeology, anthropology, geology, climatology, epidemiology, and nutritional science. Her boldly original interpretation of these diverse research findings offers us a new perspective on early American history, a new interpretation of the American past.
 By 1500, more than twelve thousand Mandans were established on the northern Plains, and their commercial prowess, agricultural skills, and reputation for hospitality became famous. Recent archaeological discoveries show how these Native American people thrived, and then how they collapsed. The damage wrought by imported diseases like smallpox and the havoc caused by the arrival of horses and steamboats were tragic for the Mandans, yet, as Fenn makes clear, their sense of themselves as a people with distinctive traditions endured.
 A riveting account of Mandan history, landscapes, and people, Fenn's narrative is enriched and enlivened not only by science and research but by her own encounters at the heart of the world.

Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82

The astonishing, hitherto unknown truths about a disease that transformed the United States at its birth A horrifying epidemic of smallpox was sweeping across the Americas when the War of Independence began, and yet we know almost nothing about it. Elizabeth A. Fenn is the first historian to reveal how deeply variola affected the outcome of the war in every colony and the lives of everyone in North America. By 1776, when military action and political ferment increased the movement of people and microbes, the epidemic worsened. Fenn's remarkable research shows us how smallpox devastated the American troops at Québec and kept them at bay during the British occupation of Boston. Soon the disease affected the war in Virginia, where it ravaged slaves who had escaped to join the British forces. During the terrible winter at Valley Forge, General Washington had to decide if and when to attempt the risky inoculation of his troops. In 1779, while Creeks and Cherokees were dying in Georgia, smallpox broke out in Mexico City, whence it followed travelers going north, striking Santa Fe and outlying pueblos in January 1781. Simultaneously it moved up the Pacific coast and east across the plains as far as Hudson's Bay. The destructive, desolating power of smallpox made for a cascade of public-helath crises and heartbreaking human drama. Fenn's innovative work shows how this mega-tragedy was met and what its consequences were for America.

The astonishing, hitherto unknown truths about a disease that transformed the United States at its birth
A horrifying epidemic of smallpox was sweeping across the Americas when the American Revolution began, and yet we know almost nothing about it. Elizabeth A. Fenn is the first historian to reveal how deeply variola affected the outcome of the war in every colony and the lives of everyone in North America.
By 1776, when military action and political ferment increased the movement of people and microbes, the epidemic worsened. Fenn's remarkable research shows us how smallpox devastated the American troops at Québec and kept them at bay during the British occupation of Boston. Soon the disease affected the war in Virginia, where it ravaged slaves who had escaped to join the British forces. During the terrible winter at Valley Forge, General Washington had to decide if and when to attempt the risky inoculation of his troops. In 1779, while Creeks and Cherokees were dying in Georgia, smallpox broke out in Mexico City, whence it followed travelers going north, striking Santa Fe and outlying pueblos in January 1781. Simultaneously it moved up the Pacific coast and east across the plains as far as Hudson's Bay.
The destructive, desolating power of smallpox made for a cascade of public-health crises and heartbreaking human drama. Fenn's innovative work shows how this mega-tragedy was met and what its consequences were for America.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Fenn, Elizabeth A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Fenn, Elizabeth A.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Fenn, Elizabeth A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People

Natives and Newcomers: The Way We Lived in North Carolina before 1770

Natives and Newcomers: The Way We Lived in North Carolina Before 1770

Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People

Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82

Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82