Camilla Townsend's stunning book differs from all previous biographies of Pocahontas in capturing how similar seventeenth-century Native Americans were-in the way they saw, understood, and struggled to control their world-not only to the invading English, but also to ourselves. Neither naive nor innocent, Indians like Pocahontas and her father, the powerful king Powhatan, confronted the vast might of the English with sophistication, diplomacy, and violence. Indeed, Pocahontas's life is a testament to the subtle intelligence that Native Americans, always aware of their material disadvantages, brought to bear against the military power of the colonizing English. Resistance, espionage, collaboration, deception: Pocahontas's life is shown as a road map of Native American strategies of defiance exercised in the face of overwhelming odds and in the hope of a semblance of independence worth the name. Book jacket.
I started to read the book in bed and felt disappointed with the 1st chapter. But then, Pocahantas came on the scene and I became riveted. I could not put the book down. I was up the night in order to get to the end.
CTownsend did a superb job at bringing this little girl to life. Excellent research, careful interpretations and indubious outcomes. - all backed with solid time frames and the cast of characters involved in and around her life.
The best book on Pocahantas I have ever read.
A winner.
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