KevinHutchings.ca

Just Published May 26th, 2009

Late last week I received a welcome package from Cambridge University Press containing copies of my latest book–a collection of academic essays that I co-edited with my friend and colleague Tim Fulford of Nottingham Trent University in the UK.  Entitled Native Americans and Anglo-American Culture, 1750-1850, the book features 12 substantial essays by British, American, Canadian, and First Nations historians and literary scholars.  These authors examine late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century literary texts, travel accounts, captivity narratives, autobiographies, newspaper articles, paintings, songs, and other cultural artifacts, exploring the various ways in which contact between Anglos and Indigenous peoples changed the Western world.  My own contributions include a lengthy introduction on “The Indian Atlantic” (co-authored with Tim Fulford), as well as a chapter on the Ojibwa author George Copway, whose 1846 autobiography became a bestseller in Canada, the USA, and Great Britain.  Copway is a most interesting writer, for not only does he speak eloquently about the cultural history of his people and his own traditional upbringing, but he also loves to quote some of my favourite British Romantic poets, including Lord Byron, Robbie Burns, and Sir Walter Scott, whose writings he appears to have known intimately.  For information on the book, and to view an image of its striking cover, visit the Cambridge University Press website at http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521888486