While Colin Calloway’s latest book returns to a topic the author has visited throughout his career, eighteenth-century Native history, it does so from a new angle. In The Indian World of George Washington, Calloway’s objective is to attract readers whose interests typically lie in the genre of presidential or Founding Father biography. As the title suggests, George Washington is the vehicle through which the author aims to persuade these readers to think deeply about Native peoples and their role in shaping the history of the United States.
Calloway’s work still demonstrates the power and influence Native peoples wielded throughout eighteenth-century North America. Washington’s importance to the early history of the United States assists in communicating this message to nonspecialists. By analyzing how Native peoples informed Washington’s actions and decision-making, his successes and failures, Calloway leaves the reader with little choice but to acknowledge the Native role in determining the...
