Indigenous continent: the epic contest for North America

Introduction : The myth of colonial America

The world on the turtle's back

The egalitarian continent

Blind conquests

Terra nullius

The Powhatan empire

Wars at the water's edge

The Pequots shall no more be called Pequots

The rise of the five nations league

Enemies of the faith

The power of weakness

The English as a little child

Metacom's challenge

Virginia's civil and uncivil wars

The great southwestern rebellion

Holding the line

They smelled like alligators

An infinity of rancherías

Magic dogs

Wars to the end of the world

British America besieged

Worldly and otherworldly wars of independence

A second Chinese wall

The American crucible

Western promises

The white devil with his mouth wide open

The long removal era

The Comanche ascendancy

The Lakota shield

Epilogue : Revenge and revival.

Introduction : The myth of colonial America --

Part One: The dawn of the indigenous continent (the first seventy millennia) --

The world on the turtle's back --

The egalitarian continent --

Blind conquests --

Part Two: Appear at a distance like giants (the long sixteenth century) --

Terra nullius --

The Powhatan empire --

Wars at the water's edge --

The Pequots shall no more be called Pequots --

Part Three: The conquest for the great American interior (early and mid-seventeenth century) --

The rise of the five nations league --

Enemies of the faith --

The power of weakness --

Part Four: The indigenous backlash (late seventeenth century) --

The English as a little child --

Metacom's challenge --

Virginia's civil and uncivil wars --

The great southwestern rebellion --

Part Five: The enduring indigenous continent (early eighteenth century) --

Holding the line --

They smelled like alligators --

An infinity of rancherías --

Part Six: The heart of the continent (mid- and late eighteenth century) --

Magic dogs --

Wars to the end of the world --

British America besieged --

Worldly and otherworldly wars of independence --

A second Chinese wall --

Part Seven: American revolutions (late eighteenth to early nineteenth century) --

The American crucible --

Western promises --

The white devil with his mouth wide open --

Part Eight: The age of equestrian empires (nineteenth century) --

The long removal era --

The Comanche ascendancy --

The Lakota shield --

Epilogue : Revenge and revival.