About the Book

Tales of early interactions between Native Americans and European settlers are often misinterpreted or fictionalized — none more so than that of Pocahontas, the chief’s daughter who first assisted and then married into the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. In Pocahontas, Dr. Paula Gunn Allen adds new depth to this extraordinary story by retelling it from a Native American perspective.

Drawing from sources often overlooked by Western historians, Allen reassesses the most famous anecdotes about Pocahontas’s life. Did a love-struck Pocahontas save Captain John Smith from execution by the chief of the Powhatans, or was the event a staged ritual that symbolized Smith’s rebirth as a member of the tribe? Did she willingly convert to Christianity, or did her true beliefs remain closer to those of her people? And did she help the Jamestown settlers out of simple altruism, or was she in fact a spy? This fascinating recounting of Pocahontas’s life gives students a new perspective on this American heroine, along with the rapidly changing world she inhabited.

Paula Gunn Allen, Ph.D., is an American of Laguna Pueblo/Metis descent and Professor Emerita of English and American Indian Studies at UCLA. The author of many books, including the landmark The Sacred Hoop, she is credited as the founder of the field of Native American Literary Studies. She lives in Fort Bragg, CA.

“Nothing less than a watershed event in the historiography of the Americas — not to mention one of the wittiest and wisest biographies I have ever read.” — Carl Rollyson, The New York Sun

Critical Praise

“Allen’s Pocahontas ... is a real visionary, a prodigiously gifted young woman ... made manifest by Allen’s often lyrical and powerful writing.” — Publishers Weekly

“This is not your typical biography. It couldn’t be.” — San Francisco Chronicle

“Nothing less than a watershed event in the historiography of the Americas.” — Carl Rollyson, The New York Sun

“Allen is a pathfinder.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Paula Gunn Allen, a pioneer of Native American literary studies, tells Pocahontas’ story from the Indian perspective.” — Oakland Tribune

[In] Ms. Allen’s spirited revision, [she] insists that Pocahontas cannot be understood except within an Algonquin Indian context. — Wall Street Journal

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Product Details

• ISBN: 9780060730604
• ISBN 10: 0060730609
• Imprint: HarperOne
• On Sale: 10/05/2004
• Trimsize: 5.310 in (w) x 8.000 in (h) x 0.840 in (d)
• Pages: 368
• List Price: $15.99
• BISAC1 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical
• BISAC2 : SOCIAL SCIENCE / Ethnic Studies / Native American Studies
• BISAC3 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women
• BISAC4 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Native Americans