Karen Ordahl Kupperman

Most Americans have some vague recollection from school that Pocahontas was taken from her people to England. In fact, even as a 10 year old girl, she learned English quickly (as kids do) and served as translator and go between for her father. At least three English boys were given to the various tribes to absorb their languages and facilitate communications. For the most part, these exchange children were well treated, but there were many incidents where one side or the other told lies to show more the children, which they then carried to their hosts. It got so neither side trusted the children. As they became adults, their situations became even more suspect. Pocahontas of course married an Englishman and went to England, where she died, but the English boys had varied fates. In the conclusion, the author compares the children to Stockholm Syndrome sufferers, whereby they are put in a terrifying situation but then are treated with kindness by their captors.

While the book wasn’t difficult reading, the author goes into great detail about the actions of the colonists and the Native Americans, and I would sometimes become confused as to which group or person she was talking about. It’s a great book, though, for showing the kind of misleading things the English did to take advantage of the Native Americans, as well as the situations the colonists found themselves in, in an area with different plants and animals from what they were used to. Four stars. show less

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BOOK REVIEW:
“Pocahontas and the English Boys” by Karen Ordahl Kupperman's is a fascinating read. The story is about several young English boys who were traded with the Native American Indians (Powhatans and other tribes) in exchange for corn and other staples to help the floundering Virginia colony survive. The plan was to trade these youngsters so they would learn the language and culture and then be able to act as translators in the relationships. Apparently it show more was very common to trade or ship out your kid when they reached the “nonage” years of the early teens. I was surprised to learn this trading out of young boys and girls was a very common custom even amongst the rich. They believed a parent, especially the mother, couldn’t properly raise their child into adulthood because their affection would interfere. Most were traded out between the ages of 10-15 years of age.

The author pulls from many source documents to tell these stories and weaves it all into a narrative thread because the English boys and Pocahontas were about the same age and knew each other too. Their lives and survival was very tenuous as they were sometimes used to send friendly messages as a ruse and set up one side to attack the other. Additionally, they developed affections for their keepers so their loyalties were split. On the whole, I think it was better to be sold or traded to the Indians because you were going to eat and they just treated their captives better. The Indians “adopted” these boys as a “sons.” But the reason why they were there was inherently dangerous and created one precarious situation after another.

For more on “Pocahontas and the English Boys” engrossing adventures read the book. Karen Ordahl Kupperman’s meticulous research is well documented on every page while still narrating and weaving an amazing story. @KatoJustus4 show less

NYU history professor Karen Ordahl Kupperman's Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony has just been released in an updated edition by Rowman & Littlefield. Much has changed since the original publication of Roanoke in 1984, and this revision brings the interpretations up to date and cements its position as the history of the "lost colony" and its predecessors for another generation of historians and students.

Kupperman works diligently to provide the important contextual and background information show more needed to understand the colonization movement in England, its nexus with international relations and privateering, and - perhaps most notably - the state of native society in the Outer Banks region where the several Roanoke colonies were founded. There is much discussion here of Richard Hakluyt, the great promoter (whose biography, by Peter Mancall, I enjoyed so well back in March), and of the great duo Thomas Hariot and John White, whose book Kupperman hails for its insightful and surprisingly accurate ethnographic portrayals of the Roanoke peoples.

Using the latest archaeological and interpretive historiographical information, Kupperman expertly guides her reader through the multiple colonization attempts at Roanoke in the 1580s, culminating of course with the establishment of the famous "lost colony," the fate of whose inhabitants remains unknown to this day. She points out the flaws in the early plans which brought about the quick ends of the first colonies, and maintains that had those lessons been learned better (or, perhaps, had the third attempt with its family-based model succeeded), some of the later errors during the early years at Jamestown might have been avoided.

Concise but detailed, this is an excellent in-depth treatment of the Roanoke colonies. The notes also contain many good suggestions for further reading in various areas.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2007/05/book-review-roanoke-abandoned-colony.htm... show less

This is more about the broth that flavoured it rather than the actual dumpling. And what an interesting broth it was. I like the way she put this together. Clear writing. This took me ages to read because I didn't want to be finished.