Early North America in Global Perspective

Early North American history is a field in flux. In the last thirty years, the field of Atlantic History has transformed scholarly studies of colonial America, bringing to light the many connections linking the Americas to Africa and Europe. Recently, though, historians have begun to question the utility of the Atlantic framework. Some suggest that it overlooks global phenomena, while others argue for a hemispheric or continental perspective on North America’s early history. Early North America in Global Perspective collects the most interesting and innovative scholarly approaches to these questions. Anchored by a robust introduction that guides the reader through the various conceptual arguments, the fourteen essays gathered here introduce students to some of the finest historians of early America working in expansive and stimulating ways. These essays capture the complexity of North America’s past and are in tune with the global influences that shape its present.

Introduction Part I: Contexts 1. American History Begins: Indian Peoples before the Advent of Europeans R. David Edmunds, Frederick E. Hoxie, and Neal Salisbury 2. How Africans Became Integral to New World History David Brion Davis 3. The Ecological Atlantic J.R. McNeill Part II: Connections 4. Beyond the Atlantic: English Globetrotters and Transoceanic Connections Alison Games 5. The Iberian Atlantic and Virginia J.H. Elliott 6. A Diplomacy of Gender: Rituals of First Contact in the “Land of the Tejas” Juliana Barr 7. Iconoclasm Without Icons? The Destruction of Sacred Objects in Colonial North America Susan Juster Part III: Transformations 8. The Alluring Pacific Ocean Paul W. Mapp 9. Maritime Masters and Seafaring Slaves in Bermuda, 1680-1783 Michael J. Jarvis 10. Indian Intermarriage and Métissage in Colonial Louisana Kathleen DuVal 11. The Politics of Grass: European Expansion, Ecological Change, and Indigenous Power in the Southwest Borderlands Pekka Hämäläinen Part IV: Tumult 12. The First Atlantic Crisis: The American Revolution David Armitage 13. Revolutionary Exiles: The American Loyalist and French Emigré Diasporas Maya Jasanoff 14. The Contagion of Rebellion Ashli White Permission Acknowledgements Index

Philip D. Morgan is Harry C. Black Professor of History at The Johns Hopkins University. He is the co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Atlantic World, and has written and edited numerous other books. Molly A. Warsh is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh.