“Colonists, whether successfully founding a permanent colony or not, are usually portrayed from their first arrival as either the main story of North America or the harbinger of doom in stories that do center Native Americans, while Native people too often are seen as a sideshow—a primitive people whose losing streak starts the minute Europeans land. In reality, Native Americans had clear ideas about how Europeans could fit into their world, and in the early centuries they often persuaded Europeans to follow their customs and forward their goals.”