Frontier: the word carries the inevitable scent of the West. But before Custer or Lewis and Clark; before the first Conestoga wagons rumbled across the Plains; it was the East that marked the frontier—the boundary between complex Native cultures and the first colonizing Europeans.Here is the older; wilder; darker history of a time when the land between the Atlantic and the Appalachians was contested ground—when radically different societies adopted and adapted the ways of the other; while struggling for control of what all considered to be their land.The First Frontier traces two and a half centuries of history through poignant; mostly unheralded personal stories—like that of a Harvard-educated Indian caught up in seventeenth-century civil warfare; a mixed-blood interpreter trying to straddle his white and Native heritage; and a Puritan woman wielding a scalping knife whose bloody deeds still resonate uneasily today. It is the first book in years to paint a sweeping picture of the Eastern frontier; combining vivid storytelling with the latest research to bring to life modern America’s tumultuous; uncertain beginnings.
#1057530 in Books 1997-10-15 1997-10-15Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 1.46 x 8.36 x 10.78l; #File Name: 0151003025448 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. and not as much as I would have liked about internal developmentsBy John T. LandryI learned a lot from this careful; fairly dispassionate collection of essays on the major periods of Jewish history: from the rise of the kingdom of Israel to the fall of the second temple; beginnings of the Diaspora; life under Medieval Christendom in the West; life under Islam in the East; liberalization in Europe; the Shoah; origins and birth of the state of Israel; and recent times. Partly for source reasons; it says a lot about relations with other people; and not as much as I would have liked about internal developments; especially religious ones. The chapter about life under Islam was eye-opening -- almost all Jews lived under relatively tolerant Islamic rule from 900 to 1600 -- and made me think Islam was a greater influence on developments in Judaism than Christianity. The final chapter felt unduly pessimistic.9 of 9 people found the following review helpful. Interesting essays and picturesBy Gary SprandelI think in the West; we sometimes are not aware of Jewish history after the Old Testament; but this book; presents 8 chapters of Jewish history; at least 7 in the last two millennium. Each of the esteemed authors presents a unique perspective and analysis on the time period they covered; such as "Herod's reforms"; or the "impact of Christianity". The chapters on the relationship of Jews with Muslims; and the slow march into the Modern World were most interesting. The book concludes with a discussion of Arab-Israeli relationships that helps in understanding some of the current tensions.There are some remarkable pictures; such as a coin from Jerusalem when under Persian Rule; an Ivory pomegranate from King Solomon temple; or pictures of the refuge ship the SS St. Louis waiting for news in Havana's Harbor. A map at the start of each chapter helps place the history in a larger regional context.I might have enjoyed a little more explanation of some of the ideas of the time; such as the Philosophies of Hillel; the laws of Moses Maimonides; the radical thoughts of Spinoza; or some of the mysticism of the Kabbalah.
