The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America | John Putnam Demos

The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America | John Putnam Demos | An outstanding historical vignette

books:

The Unredeemed Cap...

	The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America John Putnam Demos Vintage, 1995 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 28 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

A family history more compelling than any novel

While Demos's book focuses on Eunice Williams, the "unredeemed captive" who, unlike other family memory members, chose not to return to New England following her abduction in the 1704 Deerfield "Massacre," it is also a detailed look at the interfaces between Indian, French, and English cultures in colonial America. As Demos tells the story of the Williams family, he also relates the complexities of such things as Indian childrearing practices and spirituality, as well as the particular situation of the Kahnawake Indians, converted to Catholicism by the French but moving constantly back and forth across the shifting borders between English and French. Demos writes history that is impeccably researched but never tedious; this book can be read with great pleasure by anyone with an interest in history.It's in the same class as Ulrich's A Midwife's Tale.

for more information click here

An outstanding historical vignette

The Unredeemed Captive is an outstanding chronicle of life in Puritan New England, the surprisingly fluid interface between native and immigrant peoples, and the fixity of early 18th religious beliefs in English and French North America. John Demos is scrupulous but not tedious. He manages to convey his sympathies for the affected parties without producing a melodrama. The book is a story of the abduction and adoption of American settlers by Iroquois people, with elaborate and surprising repercussions. Despite this potentially explosive subject matter, Demos chooses an even-handed approach, with fascinating vignettes on the Puritan belief system, the French-Iroquois alliance, the Iroquois family structure, and the troubles of native peoples who sought alliance with English settlers. I think Demos struck the right balance to capture the interest of non-historians and yet create a richly-documented source. This is a superb piece of American historical writing

for more information click here

A story of Colonial New England.

This book is a fine example of petite histoire, the account of particular households and villages, set in the larger context of early colonial New England. Demos tells the story of an Indian raid in 1704, in Deerfield, Massachusetts, and its aftermath. In the raid, prominent minister John Williams, his family, and many others are taken captive and transported to Quebec, near Montreal. Some die in transit; many others are returned or "redeemed" to their homes. Williams' daughter, Eunice, remains "unredeemed", a convert to Catholicism and a new way of life, now married to a member of the capturing tribe. Demos does a marvelous job in reading and explicating the meager original sources which survive, and applying a judicious historical imagination to reconstruct the story, both in the larger context of time and place and the smaller context of the Williams family. As a resident of Northern New York, living close both to Quebec and the St. Regis Mohawk Indian Reservation, I found significant significant local interest in the book. Nonetheless, I found my interest often wandered, I think because Demos tried too hard to be writerly, with the result that his narrative devices (ellipsis, enjambment, etc.) getting in the way of the story. For this reason, I have qualified my recommendation. I must say, however, that my wife loved the book, stayed up late reading it, and enthused about it for weeks after a late night conclusion.

for more information click here

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6

products you might be interested in