The Indian world of George Washington : the first President, the first Americans, and the birth of the nation

From callow frontier fighter to venerated Founding Father of the United States, George Washington was intimately acquainted with 'Indian Country,' lured by its seemingly boundless potential for personal wealth and national expansion. But as Colin Calloway demonstrates in this ground-breaking study, Washington's vision for the West was contested by powerful tribes and charismatic Native leaders who prized independence as highly as he did. Bolstered by outstandingresearch, deep knowledge, and keen insight, Calloway's new book offers a sophisticated and original study of a cultural confrontation that was fundamental both for the shaping of Washington's character, and for America's destiny. * Stephen Brumwell, author of George Washington: Gentleman Warrior * The Indian World of George Washington describes a critical moment in American history with the beginning of the collapse of what Richard White calls 'The Middle Ground' between white settlers and Indians. Elegantly and engagingly written, Calloway makes a major case for the centrality of Indians in George Washington's America. * Dr. Andrew J. O'Shaughnessy, Vice President of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation (Monticello) and author of The Men Who Lost America * Finally, one of the best historians of colonial native America has taken up the challenge of putting one of the most important pieces of George Washington's life and experience back into the narrative. Calloway's monumental analysis helps us understand a half century of powerful and impactful native American history more clearly, and gives a fresh take on Washington's own challenges, frustrations, and successes-which together helped shape the destiny of AmericanRepublic. * Douglas Bradburn, President and CEO of George Washington's Mount Vernon * In The Indian World of George Washington, Colin Calloway thoughtfully and lucidly recovers a lost time, when Indian peoples' diplomacy and resistance helped to shape the new United States. No American President had a greater impact on natives or was more affected by his interactions with them. * Alan Taylor, author of American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804 * An expansive history...a detailed, impressively researched history of white-Indian relations during Washington's lifetime. Insightful and illuminating. * Kirkus Reviews * Calloway has written an important and original interpretation of critical years in the formation of federal policies toward the claims and rights of Native Americans. * Booklist * Colin Calloway demonstrates how profoundly George Washington's life was interwoven with the Indian world of North America. This book will forever change our understanding of the first president and the very meaning of the new nation he helped to create. * David Preston, author of Braddock's Defeat * Essential reading in Native American studies, as well as for those seeking a deeper understanding of George Washington and the Native populations of the early republic. * Library Journal * The fateful relationship between George Washington and the Indian tribes that bordered the new Republic is the subject of Colin Calloway's brilliantly presented and refreshingly original The Indian World of George Washington. ... An essential new entry in the literature of George Washington and the early Republic. * Wall Street Journal * Colin Calloway's book makes us look at the first president from an altogether new angle. * Tony Barber, Financial Times * Colin Calloway tells the melancholy story of Washington and the Native Americans at great and impressive length... Calloway's quiet iconoclasm, buttressed by peerless scholarship, should lead to a major revision in attitudes to Americas first president. * Frank Mclynn, Literary Review * ...provocative and deeply researched * The Daily Beast * ... magisterial ... detailed narrative ... * Virginia DeJohn Anderson, The Times Literary Supplement * In addition to his lively prose, Calloway includes a number of excellent maps, as well as a helpful list of important Native Americans, often with their English and transliterated native names. This book should prove valuable to scholars and interesting to a general audience * Robert M. Owens, The North Carolina Historical Review * Read more...