Karen Ordahl Kupperman

"Thoroughly researched account of attempt by English Protestants to establish colony on Old Providence Island (Santa Catalina, off the coast of Nicaragua). Planted in 1630, colony failed to prosper for reasons author develops with clarity and erudition, and was wiped out by the Spanish in 1641. Failure, of course, did not end British interest in the Caribbean or in the Central American coast. Major work"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.

"In this vividly written book, prize-winning author Karen Ordahl Kupperman refocuses our understanding of encounters between English venturers and Algonquians all along the East Coast of North America in the early years of contact and settlement. All parties in these dramas were uncertain--hopeful and fearful--about the opportunity and challenge presented by new realities. Indians and English both believed they could control the developing relationship. Each group was curious about the other, and interpreted through their own standards and traditions. At the same time both came from societies in the process of unsettling change and hoped to derive important lessons by studying a profoundly different culture. These meetings and early relationships are recorded in a wide variety of sources. Native people maintained oral traditions about the encounters, and these were written down by English recorders at the time of contact and since; many are maintained to this day. English venturers, desperate to make readers at home understand how difficult and potentially rewarding their enterprise was, wrote constantly of their own experiences and observations and transmitted native lore. Kupperman analyzes all these sources in order to understand the true nature of these early years, when English venturers were so fearful and dependent on native aid and the shape of the future was uncertain" -- Publisher's description.

The author searches for the truth about the four-hundred-year-old disappearance of England's first colony in North America and the fate of its settlers.

In Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony, Karen Ordahl Kupperman recounts one of the most gripping stories in American history. Writing from a background in both Indian and English history, she movingly describes the first English colony in America and places it within the context of the most recent historical research. She analyzes Carolina Algonquian culture in order to understand the Indians' response to the Europeans who intruded on them and brings historical themes to life through fascinating portraits of individuals who lived the drama of the lost colony. - Back cover.

For review see: Stephen J. Homick, in The Hispanic Historical Review (HAHR), vol. 77, no. 1 (February 1997); p. 78-80.

In Pocahontas and the English Boys, the esteemed historian Karen Ordahl Kupperman shifts the lens on the well-known narrative of Virginia's founding to reveal the previously untold and utterly compelling story of the youths who, often unwillingly, entered into cross-cultural relationships--and became essential for the colony's survival. Their story gives us unprecedented access to all the players in early Virginia. Kupperman presents the real story of Pocahontas, who, from the age of ten, acted as emissary for her father, the great Powhatan, alongside the never-before-told intertwined stories of Thomas Savage, Henry Spelman, and Robert Poole, young English boys who were sent to live with powerful Native leaders and became important intermediaries. Pocahontas and the English Boys is a riveting seventeenth-century story of intrigue and danger, knowledge and power, and four youths who lived out their lives between cultures. As Pocahontas, Thomas, Henry, and Robert collaborated and conspired in carrying messages and trying to smooth out difficulties, they never knew when they might be caught up in developing hostilities. While their knowledge and role in controlling communication gave them status and a degree of power, their relationships with both sides meant that no one trusted them completely. Written by an expert in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Atlantic history, [this book] unearths gems from the archives--Henry Spelman's memoir, travel accounts, letters, and official reports and records of meetings of the governor and council in Virginia--and draws on recent archeology to share the stories of the young people who were key influencers of their day and whose stories are now set to transform our understanding of early Virginia. -- Dust jacket flaps. "Pocahontas and the English Boys explores the culture of Early Virginia."--Provided by publisher.