The North American Indians

Step into a parlour where history is taught aloud. A mother and her children talk through the peoples of a vast continent, turning curiosity into knowledge. Listen in on their questions.Harvey Newcomb shapes this volume as juvenile nonfiction dialogues, an educational history reader that introduces indigenous tribes of North America through the lens of 19th century America and the North American frontier era. The conversational form keeps the pace brisk: names, regions, and ways of living are explained in plain, memorable exchanges, touching on Native American customs, traditional tribal life, and the encounters that shaped early national imagination. Volume I sets the ground with a broad survey, designed for reading aloud and for prompting conversation at home. Its tone reflects its time; that very datedness can sharpen modern reading, inviting comparison with contemporary scholarship while keeping the period’s educational aims in view. Read today, it is both a window on Native American history classics and a record of how earlier generations tried to describe cultures beyond their own, placing the book among influential early ethnography writings.Out of print for decades and now republished by Alpha Editions, this classic reprint edition has been restored for today’s and future generations. More than a reprint -- a collector’s item and a cultural treasure -- it suits the nightstand as readily as a homeschool curriculum reader or a classroom discussion reader, and it belongs on the shelf of anyone who collects enduring, conversation-driven nonfiction. A handsome gift for history-minded readers, too alike.