TRAGIC ENCOUNTERS: THE PEOPLE’ S HISTORY OF NATIVE AMERICANS

Book ID/图书代码： 03371015B82752

English Summary/英文概要： Page Smith was one of America’s greatest historians. After studying with Samuel Eliot Morison at Harvard, Smith went on to a distinguished academic career that culminated with him being the founding Provost of Cowell College, the first college of the new campus of the University of California at Santa Cruz. But he made his mark with a history of the United States published in eight volumes, each volume carrying the subtitle “A People’s History of the United States. These were ground-braking histories, composed as a long continuous narrative loosely organized around the themes present in each age or period. There were sourced almost entirely in contemporaneous accounts of the events covered, and they set the ground for a whole new approach to history, that perhaps culminated in the work of Howard Zinn.

During the last years of his life, Smith concentrated on composing a history of Native Americans after the first European contact. This manuscript was discovered unpublished after his death. Using his wonderful technique of narrative, discovering in the events of each period the thematic overview of that period, he again turns to contemporaneous documents to provide the structure and substance of his story. From Jamestown to Wounded Knee, the story of these Native peoples from coast to coast is explored, granting these oppressed and nearly destroyed people a chance to tell their own broad story. We know of no other similar attempt, and this book will surely caution and intrigue readers as they are offered a new slant on a very old subject.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： Page Smith是美国几个最伟大的历史学家之一。在哈佛师从Samuel Eliot Morison 之后，Smith他接着以卓越的学术生涯，这最终使得他成为了 Cowell学院的创立教务长，在 Santa Cruz加州大学新校区的第一个学院。但他把他在美国的历史发表了八卷，每一卷都有着副标题“美国的一段人民历史”。这些都是地地道道的历史，由一个长期连续叙述松散围绕主题出现在每个年龄或时期组成。当时被遮掩的事件几乎全部都有出处，并且他们用一个全新的方法把历史放置在一个地方，这也许最终就是Howard Zinn的工作吧。

在过去几年他的生活中，Smith专注于撰写与第一个欧洲人接触之后美洲土著人民的历史。这在他死后被发现未出版的手稿。用他美妙的叙事技巧,发现在每个时期的事件主题的概述,他又转向的文档提供他的故事的结构和物质。从 Jamestown to到受伤的膝盖,这些原住民的故事从东海岸到西海岸被探求，给予这些被压迫和几乎摧毁人们有机会讲述自己广阔的故事。我们知道没有其他类似的尝试,这本书一定会在一个很老的话题上为谨慎和阴谋的读者提供了一种新的角度。(LNL)

Awards/获奖情况：“拒绝美国部落生活的一个理想化版本，一个历史学家讲述了一个复杂的故事....结果对于各方的残忍、口是心非和暴力生动的重新计数。”Kirkus

"Rejecting an idealized version of American tribal life, a historian tells a complex story....The result is a vivid recounting of brutality, duplicity, and violence on all sides."—Kirkus

KIRKUS REVIEWS: “Rejecting an idealized version of American tribal life, a historian tells a complex story…. a vivid recounting of brutality, duplicity, and violence.”(full review below)

Full Kirkus: Rejecting an idealized version of American tribal life, a historian tells a complex story. Smith (1917-1995), winner of the Bancroft Prize for a biography of John Adams, is best known for his eight-volume A People’s History of the United States (1976-1987). In the years before he died, the author recognized that the relationship between Euro-Americans and tribal peoples had become, as he put it, "a major preoccupation of white Americans," fueled in part by the counterculture’s romanticized view of peaceful Indians attacked by "genocidal criminals." Seeing the need for a corrective, Smith aimed to render history "as simply and directly as possible" by collecting chapters from each volume of his People’s History to form a narrative overview, adding an additional chapter updating the story to the 1990s. The result is a vivid recounting of brutality, duplicity, and violence on all sides. Since tribes often fought one another, warfare erupted not only between whites and Indians, but also among rival tribes. Sioux and Menominie, for example, were traditional enemies of the Sauk and Foxes; by 1775, the Miami had waged war for 100 years with the Iroquois, who counted among their many enemies the Potowatomi. During the American Revolution, the British drafted Indians as mercenaries, unleashing them against settlers, especially along the frontier, where "a ruthless and barbarous total war" caused more casualties "than Washington’s Continental Army suffered in all its major engagements." Once the new nation was formed, tribal strife impeded negotiations and treaties. As the government began its policy of Indian removal, fierce fighting broke out between small groups of whites and Indians, sometimes incited by American militias that were often "disorderly and undisciplined." While Smith admires some elements of tribal life, such as a sense of the sacredness of the natural world, he cautions against idealizing Indian culture. As this abundantly detailed history shows, no one evades blame for the bloody past.

About the Author/作者介绍： Charles Page Smith（他的中间名最为有名，）是一个美国的历史学家，作家，教授和社会活动家。第二次世界大战的退伍军人，他因他的服务被授予紫心勋章。他是20多本书的作者，包括第八卷《美国的一段人民历史》（这个题目名字被Howard Zinn作为灵感）和 John Adams一起，在1963年被授予Bancroft 奖入围国家图书奖。作为一个教授，他在加州大学洛杉矶分校执教,后来成为加州大学Santa Cruz的Cowell 学院的创始院长。作为一个积极分子,他终生倡导无家可归者,社区组织和改善监狱系统。Page Smith死于1995年8月,比他深爱的妻子 Eloise晚死一天。

Charles Page Smith (best known by his middle name,) was a United States historian, author, professor and community activist. A veteran of World War II, he was awarded a Purple Heart for his service. He was the author of over twenty books, including the eight-volume A People’s History of the United States (the title of which served as inspiration for Howard Zinn) and John Adams, which was awarded the Bancroft Prize in 1963 and was a finalist for the National Book Award. As a professor, he taught at UCLA and later was the founding provost of Cowell College at the University of California, Santa Cruz. As an activist, he was a lifelong advocate for the homeless, community organization and improving the prison system. Page Smith died in August 1995, one day after the death of his beloved wife, Eloise.

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Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：NOT AVAILABLE

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：UK rights sold to Amberley Publishing

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