Customer Reviews

Abraham in Arms: War and Gender in Colonial New England (Early American Studies)

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Ann Little has written a fascinating account of the ways in which Native Americans and English and French settlers of the 17th and 18th centuries understood the wars they entered with and against each other (particularly the Pequot and Seven Years Wars, but also more generally the ongoing disputes between Europeans and Indians throughout the colonial period in New England). Drawing on English and French sources, Little also incorporates the experience of Indians as well, though of course that remains difficult when they did not leave written records from these periods.

Her argument writ large is that Indians and Europeans actually shared a number of the same understandings about warfare and masculinity, even as they also differed vastly in a number of their cultural practices. And in documenting those practices Little does a great job of showing why and how confusion arose between cultures, but also how Europeans exploited those differences whenever possible in their quest for the land then occupied by Indians. She also includes a really interesting chapter on the experiences of English children taken captive by Indians and sold to the French, many of whom (girls especially) opted not to return home, noting all the reasons that these girls may well have achieved a much more elevated status in French Canadian society than in their native New England.

I've taught the book in a number of classes and it is well argued, accessible, and chock full of evidence. It has worked successfully in those classes and I recommend it both to students of history and to lay readers interested in a more nuanced history of warfare in colonial New England that takes Indian AND European men's AND women's perspectives into account.

Abraham in Arms takes a totally original approach to early New England history. By bringing a gendered analysis to fields of war, cultural contact, and New England community formation, Little shows how concepts of masculinity were inseparable from early Americans attempts to colonize a New World. Whether talking about war, about cultural cross-dressing, or the many gendered facets of captivity, Little smartly shows how combining extensive archival research with a feminist analysis encourages us to rethink how we understand early America.

My graduate students regularly rate this book as one of their favorite pieces of new scholarship in the field. Undergrads find it accessible and engaging, and take away a whole new picture of the silver-buckle wearing Puritans they grew up with.

While this may follow feminist theory, it has little history in it or Native voices. You would be better off looking for something by Colin Calloway, Daniel Mandell, Jean O'Brien or Marge Bruchac.