Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.