Originally published in hardcover in 2003.

This concise survey, tracing the experiences of Native Americans from their origins to the present, has proven its value to both students and general readers in the two decades since its first publication. This third edition, drawing on the most recent research, adds information about Indigenous social, economic, political, and cultural issues in the twenty-first century, including tribal sovereignty, the Keystone XL Pipeline, and the controversial legacy of Indian boarding schools. The author traces tribal experiences through four eras: Indigenous America prior to the European invasions; the colonial period; the emergence of the United States as the dominant power in North America and its subsequent invasion of Indian lands; and the years from 1900 to the present. Useful features include brief biographies of important Native figures, an updated chronology, and suggested readings for each period of the past four hundred years. Nichols uses both Euro-American sources and tribal stories to illuminate the problems Indigenous people and their leaders have dealt with in every generation.

Drawing on a vast array of primary and secondary sources, Roger L. Nichols traces the changing relationships between Native peoples and whites in the United States and Canada from colonial times to the present. Dividing this history into five stages, beginning with Native supremacy over European settlers and concluding with Native peoples’ political, economic, and cultural resurgence, Nichols carefully compares and contrasts the effects of each stage on Native populations in the United States and Canada. This second edition includes new chapters on major transformations from 1945 to the present, focusing on social issues such as transracial adoption of Native children, the uses of national and international media to gain public awareness, and demands for increasing respect for tribal religious practices, burial sites, and historic and funerary remains.

During the century following George Washington’s presidency, the United States fought at least forty wars with various Indian tribes, averaging one conflict every two and a half years. Warrior Nations is Roger L. Nichols’s response to the question, “Why did so much fighting take place?” Examining eight of the wars between the 1780s and 1877, Nichols explains what started each conflict and what the eight had in common as well as how they differed. He writes about the fights between the United States and the Shawnee, Miami, and Delaware tribes in the Ohio Valley, the Creek in Alabama, the Arikara in South Dakota, the Sauk and Fox in Illinois and Wisconsin, the Dakota Sioux in Minnesota, the Cheyenne and Arapaho in Colorado, the Apache in New Mexico and Arizona, and the Nez Perce in Oregon and Idaho. Virtually all of these wars, Nichols shows, grew out of small-scale local conflicts, suggesting that interracial violence preceded any formal declaration of war. American pioneers hated and feared Indians and wanted their land. Indian villages were armed camps, and their young men sought recognition for bravery and prowess in hunting and fighting. Neither the U.S. government nor tribal leaders could prevent raids, thievery, and violence when the two groups met. In addition to U.S. territorial expansion and the belligerence of racist pioneers, Nichols cites a variety of factors that led to individual wars: cultural differences, border disputes, conflicts between and within tribes, the actions of white traders and local politicians, the government’s failure to prevent or punish anti-Indian violence, and Native determination to retain their lands, traditional culture, and tribal independence. The conflicts examined here, Nichols argues, need to be considered as wars of U.S. aggression, a central feature of that nation’s expansion across the continent that brought newcomers into areas occupied by highly militarized Native communities ready and able to defend themselves and attack their enemies.

Completely updated and expanded, Black Hawk and the Warrior's Path is a masterful account of the life of the Sauk warrior and leader, and his impact on the history of early America. The period between 1760 and 1840 is brought to life through vivid discussion of Native American society and traditions, Western frontier expansion, and US-Native American politics and conflicts Updates include: 1 new map, 8 new images, a revised bibliographic essay incorporating the latest research, a timeline, and 8 concise, reorganized chapters with key terms and study questions Accessibly written by a noted expert in the field, students will understand key themes and find meaningful connections among historical events in Native American and 18th century American history

Major Stephen H. Long of the United States Army was the most important government-sponsored explorer in the decade after the War of 1812. He led three major and several minor expeditions up the Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas rivers and the Red River of the north, as well as exploring the central and southern Plains, the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Lakes. His campanions included engineers, cartographers, Naturalists, ethnologists, and artists, and they gathered a wealth of scientific, military, and artistic data about the interior of North America. For years Long’s expeditions have been overlooked or misunderstood; here for the first time they are placed in the context of American scientific development.

During the nineteenth century, the U.S. military fought numerous battles against American Indians. These so-called Indian wars devastated indigenous populations, and some of the conflicts stand out today as massacres, as they involved violent attacks on often defenseless Native communities, including women and children. Although historians have written full-length studies about each of these episodes, Massacring Indians is the first to present them as part of a larger pattern of aggression, perpetuated by heartless or inept military commanders. In clear and accessible prose, veteran historian Roger L. Nichols examines ten significant massacres committed by U.S. Army units against American Indians. The battles range geographically from Alabama to Montana and include such well-known atrocities as Sand Creek, Washita, and Wounded Knee. Nichols explores the unique circumstances of each event, including its local context. At the same time, looking beyond the confusion and bloodshed of warfare, he identifies elements common to all the massacres. Unforgettable details emerge in the course of his account: inadequate training of U.S. soldiers, overeagerness to punish Indians, an inflated desire for glory among individual officers, and even careless mistakes resulting in attacks on the wrong village or band. As the author chronicles the collective tragedy of the massacres, he highlights the roles of well-known frontier commanders, ranging from Andrew Jackson to John Chivington and George Armstrong Custer. In many cases, Nichols explains, it was lower-ranking officers who bore the responsibility and blame for the massacres, even though orders came from the higher-ups. During the nineteenth century and for years thereafter, white settlers repeatedly used the term “massacre” to describe Indian raids, rather than the reverse. They lacked the understanding to differentiate such raids—Indians defending their homeland against invasion—from the aggressive decimation of peaceful Indian villages by U.S. troops. Even today it may be tempting for some to view the massacres as exceptions to the norm. By offering a broader synthesis of the attacks, Massacring Indians uncovers a more disturbing truth: that slaughtering innocent people was routine practice for U.S. troops and their leaders.

Brought completely up to date to reflect recent scholarship and the new wave of immigration to the United States in the last decade, the second edition of this immensely popular book highlights a much-neglected dimension of the American past by giving a unique focus to the history of the nation's minority groups. Within the context of the country's economic development, the authors show how blacks, Indians, and immigrant minorities helped transform an agrarian society into the modern industrial-urban nation of the 1990s. Remarkable in the breadth of its coverage, this is the first survey that integrates the experiences of racial, religious, and ethnic minorities to present an overall sense of American history while illuminating major trends in the growth of the United States. The Second Edition includes entirely new material on Indian efforts to retain their cultural independence and their attempts to shape relations with the majority society. The book also new data on recent refugees and current immigration legislation. Written in the same clear, straightforward style that made the previous edition so popular, the Second Edition, which features many well-chosen illustrations, will be essential reading for students of American ethnic history.