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What were the consequences of the invasion of the Americas by Europeans? To what extent are these consequences being felt today? The books listed here discuss various aspects of this topic. All are aimed at adults, unless otherwise noted.

Axtell, James. Five books from the same author and publisher: 1981. The European & the Indian: Essays in the Ethnohistory of Colonial North America. 1985. The Invasion Within: The Contest of Cultures in Colonial North America. 1988. After Columbus: Essays in the Ethnohistory of Colonial North America. 1992. Beyond 1492: Encounters in Colonial North America. 2001. Natives & Newcomers: The Cultural Origins of North America. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press. Studies of various aspects of the encounters between Native Americans and Europeans in Colonial America.

Barreiro, José, editor. Indian Roots of American Democracy. 1988, 1992. Ithaca, NY: Akwe:Kon Press/Cornell University. First edition published by the Northeast Indian Quarterly, Cornell University, 1988. Essays by a number of scholars, including several who are Iroquois, on Iroquois influences on the formation of U.S. government in the 1700s, and on the development of the women's rights movements in the 1800s.

Calloway, Colin G. 1997. New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. An exploration of the new cultures that emerged from the meeting and interaction of Indian and European in early America.

Churchill, Ward. 2005. Since Predator Came: Notes from the Struggle for American Indian Liberation. Oakland, CA: AK Press. In these essays, Churchill discusses the atrocities of the past and their effects in the present. First published 1995 by Aigis Publications, Littleton, CO.

Crosby, Alfred W., Jr. 2003 The Columbian Exchange: Biological & Cultural Consequences of 1492, 30th Anniversary Edition. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. Examines the impact of Columbus' voyages on the global ecosystem. First published in 1973.

Dobyns, Henry F. 1983. Their Number Became Thinned: Native American Population Dynamics in Eastern North America. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. Analyzes population trends in North America from 1492 to the late 20th Century.

Fitzhugh, William W., editor. 1985. Cultures in Contact: The Impact of European Contacts on Native American Cultural Institutions, A.D. 1000-1800. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. Anthropological Society of Washington Series. Scholarly essays on various aspects of cultural contact.

Grinde, Donald A. (Yamasee). 1977, 1980. The Iroquois & the Founding of the American Nation. San Francisco: The Indian Historian Press. A study of the Iroquois influence on the formation of the U.S. government.

Hoxie, Frederick E., editor. 1998. Indians in American History: An Introduction, second edition. Arlington Heights, IL: Harlan Davidson. A collection of essays on the Indian impact on post-contact American history.

Jennings, Francis. Three valuable studies from the same author and publisher: 1975, 1976. The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism, and the Cant of Conquest. 1983, 1990. The Ambiguous Iroquois Empire: The Covenant Chain Confederation of Indian Tribes with English Colonies from its Beginnings to the Lancaster Treaty of 1744. 1993, 1994. The Founders of America: How Indians Discovered the Land, Pioneered in it, and Created Great Classical Civilizations, How they were Plunged into a Dark Age by Invasion & Conquest, and How They are Recovering. New York: W.W. Norton.

Johansen, Bruce E. 1998. Debating Democracy: Native American Legacy of Freedom. Santa Fe: Clear Light Pub-lishers. With chapters by Donald A. Grinde, Jr. and Barbara A. Mann. Foreward by Vine Deloria, Jr. A study of the Iroquois influence on the formation of the U.S. government, with an account of the scholarly debate concerning this topic.

Keoke, Emory Dean (Standing Rock Sioux), & Kay Marie Porterfield. 2002. Encyclopedia of American Indian Contributions to the World: 15,000 Years of Inventions & Innovations. New York: Facts on File. Over 450 alpha-betically arranged entries, including a wide variety of Native American inventions and contributions.

Konig, Hans. Two books from the same author and publisher: 1976, 1991. Columbus: His Enterprise; Exploding the Myth. 1993. The Conquest of America: How the Indian Nations Lost Their Continent. New York: Monthly Review Press. The first book serves to counteract the popular myths about Columbus and his voyages and describes the fate of the native peoples he encountered. The second is an account of the ongoing war waged by Europeans against the native peoples of the Americas during the five centuries since Columbus' arrival. Both are aimed at ages 12 and up.

Nabokov, Peter, editor. 1999. Native American Testimony: A Chronicle of Indian-White Relations from Prophecy to the Present, 1492-2000, revised edition. New York: Penguin Books. Foreword by Vine Deloria, Jr. Five centuries of Indian-white relations as seen through Indian eyes and told in Indian voices.

Nichols, Roger L. & George R. Adams, editors. 1998. The American Indian: Past & Present, 5th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. Useful essays by 24 scholars. First published in 1971.

Ramenosky, Ann F. 1987. Vectors of Death: The Archaeology of European Contact. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. A study of the impact of European diseases on Native American population.

Thornton, Russell. 1987, 1990. American Indian Holocaust & Survival: A Population History Since 1492. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. This book presents a detailed assessment of how many Indians were living in the Americas in 1492, and how many died from the impact of Old World diseases and wars with Europeans.

Viola, Herman J., & Carolyn Margolis, editors. 1991. Seeds of Change: A Quincentennial Commemoration. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. This large, well-illustrated book traces Old and New World exchanges of sugar, maize, potatoes, wine, horses, and other plants and animals, as well as diseases, over the course of 500 years.

Wagner, Sally Roesch. 2001. Sisters in Spirit: Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Influence on Early American Feminists. Summertown, TN: Native Voices. Discusses the impact and example Haudenosaunne women provided for early feminists.

Wearne, Phillip. 1996. Return of the Indian: Conquest & Revival in the Americas. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Discusses the experiences and struggles of the indigenous peoples of North, Central, and South America.

Weatherford, Jack. Three books from the same author and publisher: 1988. Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World. 1991. Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America. 1994. Savages & Civilization: Who Will Survive? New York: Fawcett Columbine. The first book describes how Native American contributions in many areas (government, medicine, agriculture, architecture, trade and commerce, etc.) changed the world. The second book focuses on the vital role that Indian civilizations played in the development of the United States. In the third book, the author examines how civilization threatens to obliterate unique tribal and ethnic cultures around the world.

Prepared by the National Museum of the American Indian,
in cooperation with the Public Inquiry Mail Service,
Smithsonian Institution.

05/98, Rev. 08/07

 
 


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