ECU Libraries Catalog

On savage shores : how indigenous Americans discovered Europe / Caroline Dodds Pennock.

Author/creator Dodds Pennock, Caroline, 1978- author.
Format Book and Print
EditionFirst North American edition.
Publication Info New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2023.
Copyright Notice ©2023
Descriptionxvi, 302 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm
Subject(s)
Portion of title How indigenous Americans discovered Europe
Contents Timeline -- Why words matter -- Introduction -- Slavery -- Go betweens -- Kith and kin -- The stuff of life -- Diplomacy -- Spectacle and curiosity -- Afterword.
Abstract "A landmark work of narrative history that shatters our previous Eurocentric understanding of the Age of Discovery by telling the story of the Indigenous Americans who journeyed across the Atlantic to Europe after 1492. We have long been taught to presume that modern global history began when the "Old World" encountered the "New", when Christopher Columbus "discovered" America in 1492. But, as Caroline Dodds Pennock conclusively shows in this groundbreaking book, for tens of thousands of Aztecs, Maya, Totonacs, Inuit and others--enslaved people, diplomats, explorers, servants, traders--the reverse was true: they discovered Europe. For them, Europe comprised savage shores, a land of riches and marvels, yet perplexing for its brutal disparities of wealth and quality of life, and its baffling beliefs. The story of these Indigenous Americans abroad is a story of abduction, loss, cultural appropriation, and, as they saw it, of apocalypse--a story that has largely been absent from our collective imagination of the times. From the Brazilian king who met Henry VIII to the Aztecs who mocked up human sacrifice at the court of Charles V; from the Inuk baby who was put on show in a London pub to the mestizo children of Spaniards who returned "home" with their fathers; from the Inuit who harpooned ducks on the Avon river to the many servants employed by Europeans of every rank: here are a people who were rendered exotic, demeaned, and marginalized, but whose worldviews and cultures had a profound impact on European civilization. Drawing on their surviving literature and poetry and subtly layering European eyewitness accounts against the grain, Pennock gives us a sweeping account of the Indigenous American presence in, and impact on, early modern Europe." -- description from publisher's website. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646154/on-savage-shores-by-caroline-dodds-pennock/
General note"This is a Borzoi Book" -- Title page verso.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 253-290) and index.
Issued in other formOnline version: Dodds Pennock, Caroline, 1978- On savage shores. First North American edition. New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2023 9781524749279
Genre/formHistory.
LCCN 2022046208
ISBN9781524749262 (hardcover)
ISBN1524749265 (hardcover)
ISBN(electronic book)

Available Items

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Joyner General Stacks E58 .D6337 2023 ✔ Available Place Hold