Description

pp. 372, alas NO DUSJTACKET,  b/w photographs, sketch illustrations, maps, “A classic study of early contact between European explorers and North American natives. When the two cultures met in the fifteenth century, it meant great upheavals for the Amerindians, but strengthened the Europeans’ move toward nation-states and capitalism. In the Myth of the Savage, Olive P. Dickason explores Europe’s response to the richly varied spectrum of Amerindian societies during the late fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Renaissance Europeans assessed New World information in the light of Christian orthodoxy and practical political ideology, using the concept of savagery to explain the New World peoples. Many myths about the New World circulated throughout Europe and influenced Europe’s approach to the Americas. Remolding Amerindian culture to European standards absorbed the energies of officials, missionaries, and soldiers, creating upheavals in cultural and political landscapes for the Amerindians. Dr. Dickason examines the early contacts between Amerindians and explorers, the variety of societies in the New World, the development of European beliefs and attitudes towards Amerindians, the origins of the concept of “l’homme sauvage”, relations between the Amerindians and early colonists and missionaries, and the outcome of colonization of the New World. Drawings and maps by early explorers and colonists also propagated the myths and Dr. Dickason has extensively used illustrations to emphasize Europe’s concept of the New World.”