The Head in Edward Nugent's Hand: Roanoke's Forgotten Indians (Early American Studies) [Hardcover]

Michael Leroy Oberg (Author)

Book Description

Series: Early American Studies | Publication Date: October 3, 2007

Roanoke is part of the lore of early America, the colony that disappeared. Many Americans know of Sir Walter Ralegh's ill-fated expedition, but few know about the Algonquian peoples who were the island's inhabitants. The Head in Edward Nugent's Hand examines Ralegh's plan to create an English empire in the New World but also the attempts of native peoples to make sense of the newcomers who threatened to transform their world in frightening ways.

Beginning his narrative well before Ralegh's arrival, Michael Leroy Oberg looks closely at the Indians who first encountered the colonists. The English intruded into a well-established Native American world at Roanoke, led by Wingina, the weroance, or leader, of the Algonquian peoples on the island. Oberg also pays close attention to how the weroance and his people understood the arrival of the English: we watch as Wingina's brother first boards Ralegh's ship, and we listen in as Wingina receives the report of its arrival. Driving the narrative is the leader's ultimate fate: Wingina is decapitated by one of Ralegh's men in the summer of 1586.

When the story of Roanoke is recast in an effort to understand how and why an Algonquian weroance was murdered, and with what consequences, we arrive at a more nuanced and sophisticated understanding of what happened during this, the dawn of English settlement in America.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Michael Oberg sheds new light on one of the great stories in early American history. . . . He has tried to reconstruct the history of Roanoke not only from the view of colonists, who left all of the written records, but also from the view of the Native peoples of the region. The narrative is briskly paced and the research is thorough."—Peter C. Mancall, author of Hakluyt's Promise: An Elizabethan's Obsession for an English America

"[Oberg's] short, extremely readable work weaves together analyses of developments, causes, and effects with detailed views of the Native and English communities, cultures, leading personalities, and significant events, including their encounters along the Carolina coast. Oberg ends, fittingly and impressively, by tracing the surviving coastal Carolina Indian communities from the seventeenth into the twentieth century. This is an excellent book for U.S. history survey classes. . . . Highly recommended."—Choice

About the Author

Michael Leroy Oberg is Professor of History at the State University of New York, College at Geneseo.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press; Reprint edition (October 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812240316
• ISBN-13: 978-0812240313
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,114,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Consequences of Killing one Indian, April 11, 2009

By 

Dr. Watson - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Head in Edward Nugent's Hand: Roanoke's Forgotten Indians (Early American Studies) (Hardcover)

Professor Oberg has written an excellent book on the death of Wingina by one of the early English explorers to Roanoke and the long-range impact of that murder. The material is well-researched and presented, with few things to find fault in this edition. There is no bibliography and the author's "Acknowledgements" section is more suitable as a "Preface" to the whole book. Some proper names are confused in the text, i.e., Sir Walter Raleigh or Ralegh are interchanged; as is the Algonquin Indian taken to England, who is re-named Ralegh or Raleigh. The Index is incomplete; it lacks many names of individuals listed in the narrative. The author includes too many summaries throughout, and some of the Indian weroance leaders are introduced so early and briefly in the text, that when they are mentioned a few hundred pages later, the reader is left without continuity.

Nevertheless, Professor Oberg's story of Edward Nugent's murder of King Wingina is well told, but it gets lost in the last chapter with his digression into the many theories of the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island. He dismisses out-of-hand the so-called "Dare Stones," and gives a left-handed compliment to the Paul Green outdoor drama, "The Lost Colony."

But, those things aside, the book fills a large gap in most Early American history texts, by giving the reader a full discussion of the Indians (especially the key role played by Manteo) and a key event, the murder of King Wingina, which affected Indian-English relations for generations to come.

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Book, May 17, 2010

By 

M. Sheppard (NC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Head in Edward Nugent's Hand: Roanoke's Forgotten Indians (Early American Studies) (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed Oberg's "The Head in Edward Nugent's Hand". Oberg provides readers with a different perspective on the failure of the Roanoke colony. The only complaint I have is the epilogue. The book would have been fine without it. Otherwise, a very good book.