Synopses & Reviews
Before their massacre by Massachusetts Puritans in 1637, the Pequots were preeminent in southern New England. Their location on the eastern Connecticut shore made them important producers of the wampum required to trade for furs from the Iroquois. They were also the only Connecticut Indians to oppose the land-hungry English. For those reasons, they became the first victims of white genocide in colonial America.
Despite the Pequot War of 1637, and the greed and neglect of their white neighbors and "overseers," the Pequots endured in their ancestral homeland. In 1983 they achieved federal recognition. In 1987 they commemorated the 350th anniversary of the Pequot War by organizing the Mashantucket Pequot Historical Conference, at which distinguished scholars presented the articles assembled here.
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Review
"The Pequots is a collection of essays that were originally presented at a conference held in 1987 in Connecticut to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Pequot War. Laurence Hauptman and James Wherry, as editors, have done an excellent job in organizing the essays into an important and perceptive contribution to our knowledge of the Pequots as well as their interaction with colonials and state and federal governments." History
Review
"The Pequots in Southern New England is a welcome addition to a growing list of books that are beginning to unravel the fascinating yet long-neglected histories of eastern Indian tribes. Scholars and general readers alike should appreciate this work as offering an important corrective to stereotypical views about eastern Indians and their tragic demise. The Mashantucket Pequot tribe not only is alive and well and living in Connecticut but offers a success story that other small tribes can hope to emulate." American Indian Culture and
Research Journal
Review
"In the preface, editors Laurence Hauptman and James Wherry promise a presentation devoid of jargon, to provide a work as educational to high school and college students as to scholars of Native American history. The book is highly successful at both." American Antiquity
About the Author
Laurence M. Hauptman is Professor of History in the State University of New York, College at New Paltz, and the author of several books on the Iroquois in New York State. James Wherry is the SocioEconomic Development Specialist of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe. He has won the Praxis Award for his work as an applied anthropologist.
William T. Hagan, author of the Foreword, is Professor of History in the University of Oklahoma and the author of several books on United States Indian history.