America Before the European Invasions

by Alice Beck Kehoe

Beginning with the immigrants from Asia, through inventions of agriculture, cities and kingdoms, American First Nations are integral to the history of the United States. They explored the continent, pioneered its waterways and mountain passes, cleared forests, irrigated deserts, and ranched its great plains. Invading Europeans justifies their conquests by denying the evidence of American Indian civilisations. Using her familiarity with the archaeological remains and remnants, Alice Kehoe builds a fascinating prehistory, highlighting the research puzzles along the way. This book presents an enthralling look at the depth and diversity of American history - before the Europeans and the deadly epidemics they brought with them decimated whole nations.

Genres: History

268 pages, Paperback

First published August 7, 2002

Reviews

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It can get pretty dry and repetitive. Some of that is necessary based on the chosen structure, but probably not all of it. The most interesting section is chapter 7 on Alaska, but it is also the most unique.

There are still some real strengths to the book, as it openly faces the difficulties in obtaining clarity and explains the reasons. Each chapter ends with "Puzzles" - the gaps in the knowledge.

The book is also valuable for how it handles the influence of colonialism and racism on the previous scholarship and how there are issues that continue to affect people now, especially in regard to land claims.

[Vali Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kehoe gives a riveting history of largely unknown periods of America. The information can be dry at times but the presentation and the writing are exceptional.

[Old Man JP · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book focuses almost exclusively on the people living in, what would become, the United States before the arrival of the Europeans. I was a little disappointed in the limited scope because I would have preferred an overview of the people in both of the American continents but that would probably have been too much information for one book. As it is the book was fairly brief on several of the subjects discussed. The book begins with the archeological evidence of the first people to inhabit America and discusses both known and probable conclusions. The book then goes through major regions and time periods and talks about the people and culture there. It is a very information laden text written in a somewhat academic manner but very accessible and easy to read.

[kitty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this book was printed before DNA evidence could comprehensively prove or disprove certain theories and ideas about Native American history, this book demonstrates that a lot of the knowledge learned over the years from archaeology, carbon dating and oral histories was very accurate.

To begin with I believed that the out of date listing of this book would mean it would contain inaccuracies and sparse info. But I found I actually enjoyed it because I could see that so much about what she reported and postulated was found to be accurate.

It's a very dry, scientifically written textbook of Native American archaeology but I found still very readable and am now looking to read more from this author.

[George Murray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basically a textbook, not terribly fun to read, if you already have a basic understanding of pre-Columbian history you’re not going to deepen jt much here. But, it’s like 200 pages and written in pretty simple language so if you don’t have a basic understanding of pre-Columbian history this is probably a good place to start!

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detailed regional information about demographics , migrations, ideology from west to east.. Information on culture, archaeology, and differential aspects of remnants and burial practices are the key points. The interaction between Europe and North America goes east to west, from the Spainish explorers to the final interior tribes of Canada. The final chapter looks at the legal and political aspects of the remnants if history both oral and legal.