Pocahontas and the English boys : caught between cultures in early Virginia / Karen Ordahl Kupperman.

9781479825820 (hardcover)
1479825824 (hardcover)

New York : New York University Press, [2019]

English

xi, 233 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

F229 .K88 2019

975.501092/2 B

In Pocahontas and the English Boys, the esteemed historian Karen Ordahl Kupperman shifts the lens on the well-known narrative of Virginia's founding to reveal the previously untold and utterly compelling story of the youths who, often unwillingly, entered into cross-cultural relationships--and became essential for the colony's survival. Their story gives us unprecedented access to all the players in early Virginia. Kupperman presents the real story of Pocahontas, who, from the age of ten, acted as emissary for her father, the great Powhatan, alongside the never-before-told intertwined stories of Thomas Savage, Henry Spelman, and Robert Poole, young English boys who were sent to live with powerful Native leaders and became important intermediaries. Pocahontas and the English Boys is a riveting seventeenth-century story of intrigue and danger, knowledge and power, and four youths who lived out their lives between cultures. As Pocahontas, Thomas, Henry, and Robert collaborated and conspired in carrying messages and trying to smooth out difficulties, they never knew when they might be caught up in developing hostilities. While their knowledge and role in controlling communication gave them status and a degree of power, their relationships with both sides meant that no one trusted them completely. Written by an expert in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Atlantic history, [this book] unearths gems from the archives--Henry Spelman's memoir, travel accounts, letters, and official reports and records of meetings of the governor and council in Virginia--and draws on recent archeology to share the stories of the young people who were key influencers of their day and whose stories are now set to transform our understanding of early Virginia. -- Dust jacket flaps.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

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