Encounters In The New World: A History In Documents

by Jill Lepore
Oxford University Press (2000). 175 pages.
ISBN 0195105133
Paperback $39.95

Review by Gretchen Healy

This profusely illustrated and meticulously researched book    is organized thematically, rather than chronologically. The commentary on the documents is both balanced and revealing.

Jill Lepore reveals in written and oral accounts the sharply contrasting viewpoints of Indians and Europeans at their first encounters. Her interpretation of those encounters is sympathetic and balanced.

This is not a dry collection but a coherent synthesis of maps, journals, broadsides, drawings, pictures, and accounts from about 1400 to 1789, and from Hudson’s Bay to Central America. It is highly recommended as primary source material for all tribal college libraries.

Gretchen Healy is the library director at Little Priest Tribal College in Winnebago, NE.