This magnificent, sweeping work traces the histories of the Native peoples of the American West from their arrival thousands of years ago to the early years of the nineteenth century. Emphasizing conflict and change, One Vast Winter Count offers a new look at the early history of the region by blending ethnohistory, colonial history, and frontier history. Drawing on a wide range of oral and archival sources from across the West, Colin G. Calloway offers an unparalleled glimpse at the lives of generations of Native peoples in a western land soon to be overrun.
Colin G. Calloway is the Samson Occom Professor of Native American Studies, professor of history, and chair of the Native American studies program at Dartmouth College. He is the coeditor of Germans and Indians: Fantasies, Projections, Encounters (Nebraska 2002) and the author of many works, including New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America.
A sweeping account of the histories of Native peoples of the American West.
"A splendid overview of the Native American West to the end of the eighteenth century."--Larry McMurtry, New York Review of Books "The first volume in the publisher's new series History of the American West, this clearly written, monumental history of Native Americans and of white-Indian interaction in the trans-Appalachian West up to the beginning of the nineteenth century synthesizes a vast body of archaeological, ethnographic, and historical scholarship. It will long remain the authoritative treatment of its subject."--Benjamin Schwarz, The Atlantic Monthly "[A] masterful synthesis of an extensive literature... Without taking sides, Calloway points to controversies in scholarship, and, in a reasoned way, he integrates Native oral histories and origin stories into his narrative. The book is a solid contribution to our understanding of the American West."--Western Historical Quarterly "What makes this book so interesting is the author's consistent use of native American oral traditions as a bridge between recorded history and the prehistory normally investigated only through archaeological techniques. In the last several years there have been several attempts to rewrite American history from a native American perspective... but this book by Calloway stands out for its greater scope, its greater emphasis on Indian sources, and the overall superb synthesis of history, anthropology, and geography."--Robert A. Dunn, Historical Geography "[An] enthralling and brilliant survey... [Calloway] masterfully integrates the disciplines of archaeology, anthropology, environmental science, and history to provide a wonderful panorama illustrating both the diversity and the vibrancy of these rich cultures."--Booklist "Author of First Peoples and a distinguished Dartmouth historian, Calloway concentrates on the Indian experience from the Appalachians to the Pacific, in a time frame from prehistory to the 18th century. The scope is staggering, but Calloway masters it, demonstrating a remarkable command of a broad spectrum of historical, ethnographic and archaeological sources including printed material and oral traditions... One Vast Winter Count is both a major work in its own right and a magnificent first volume in Nebraska's new History of the American West series."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Calloway draws on tribal histories, anthropology, and archaeology, as well as traditional historical sources, to present this useful and insightful overview of vibrant nations actively charting their futures in the time of great change and tremendous challenge before Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery set forth in 1803... Calloway's balanced treatment of a topic so easily given to polemics is welcome indeed. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries."--Library Journal "The author resurrects a shifting patchwork of native cultures. With an impressive and far-reaching grasp of his subject, Mr. Calloway replaces simplified notions of fixed boundaries, lifestyles, and tribes with a nuanced account of migrations and evolving tribal identities."--Jerome Tharaud, The New York Sun "Straightforward and unsentimental, this epic history does not glorify any sect or tribe or race, but presents the collisions, hard and soft, that created our modern world."--Andrew Burstein, The American Scholar "The author's research for this project is prodigious. It combines extensive uses of archaeology, ethnology, tribal accounts, personal reminiscences, and historical accounts, both primary and secondary. His familiarity with existing scholarship is impressive. Clear prose, cogent arguments, and a willingness to place multiple groups into the broad histrical processes that occurred make this a model study... This book is first-rate sholarship and includes a wealth of useful and important ideas and data. As such it deserves widespread attention."--Roger L. Nichols, The Journal of American History "Calloway's Winter Count traces the living history of native groups in North America for all those who ever wondered how, in winning the West, the colonizers lost it. It could, therefore, be a disparaging account of multiple encounters and shifting frontiers, but Calloway makes it an ode to Native American enterprise and resilience without diminishing the accomplishments of the colonizers."--Mariah Wade, The Americas "Collin Calloway's One Vast Winter Count constitutes a monumental interpretive synthesis of American Indian history in the West before Lewis and Clark... His command of the literature is masterful and his ear for telling quotes is pitch-perfect. Anyone who teaches Native American history, the early history of the American West, or colonial history will strip their copy to shreds mining the rich lode of lecture material Calloway provides. Most impressive of all, though, is the author's ability to integrate a seeming cacophony of perspectives--imperial, native, academic, and hybrid."--Thomas G. Andrews, Southern California Quarterly "The University of Nebraska Press's projected multivolume History of the American West is off to a good start... One Vast Winter Count can serve as an introduction to or an overview of early American Indian history. Either way, it is excellent."--William A. Dobak, The Chronicles of Oklahoma "Make room on the shelf. This is the inaugural volume of a planned six-volume history of the American West, and if the rest of the volumes meet the standard set by the first, you will want to own them all... It will be money (and space) well spent. Colin G. Calloway, a prominent historian at Dartmouth College, moves effortlessly from the ancient history of the West to the eve of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, from archaeological literature to documentary evidence, and from Ohio to California."--Theodore Binnema, Oregon Historical Quarterly "Colin Calloway covers a great deal of ground geographically, culturally, and chronologically. It is a monumental survey of Native American prehistory and history... This book will be of great interest to students of North American archeology, exploration, Native American history and cultures, and warfare in North America. Readers who appreciate "big picture" views of history will definitely enjoy this well-written and thought-provoking essay."--Thomas D. Thiessen, Nebraska History "A good mix of scholarship and readability... An epic tale, worthy of a most ancient land."--Nebraska Life "This masterful work of scholarly synthesis places the expedition into a broad historical and cultural context, and it has a grand narrative sweep."--We Proceeded On "History woven into fiction."--Charlie Hunt, Fall Horse Round Up "One Vast Winter Count will quickly and easily become known as the best and most thorough source on the early history of Native Americans west of the Appalachians."--Richard W. Etulain, author of Telling Western Stories: From Buffalo Bill to Larry McMurtry and coeditor of By Grit and Grace: Eleven Women Who Shaped the American West. "Colin Calloway has produced a masterful, interdisciplinary synthesis of American Indian ethnohistory and Euro-American contact... Calloway does an outstanding job of presenting Native perspectives and explanations, gleaned from oral traditions, archival sources, and contemporary commentaries."--David Rich Lewis, author of Neither Wolf nor Dog: American Indians, Environment, and Agrarian Change. "A major addition to the historiography of the American West. This stunning work of synthesis, skillfully written by a mature, judicious, and imaginative historian, ably reflects current scholarly sensibilities. It will find its way into the library of every serious student of the history of the West."--David J. Weber, author of The Spanish Frontier in North America.
