Focusing on the prolonged interaction between Native Americans and Europeans in the Western Great Lakes fur trade, Sleeper-Smith (history, Michigan State U.) argues that, contrary to stereotype, Indians have existed as a viable and distinct people from the earliest times to the present and that, while encounter changed indigenous communities, it also encouraged the evolution of strategic behavior that ensured cultural continuity. In particular she explores the often misunderstood role played by Native women in establishing the fur trade as an avenue of sociocultural change.

About the Author
SUSAN SLEEPER-SMITH is assistant professor of history at Michigan State University and coeditor of New Faces of the Fur Trade: Selected Papers of the Seventh North American Fur Trade Conference.

Reviews
This is groundbreaking work - a major contribution to the history of both Native Americans and women in this region. The book will become required reading for any course that focuses on the role of mixed bloods or Native Americans in the western Great Lakes and Mississippi. - R. David Edmunds, coauthor of The Fox Wars: The Mesquakie Challenge to New France



Book Information
ISBN 9781558493100
Author Susan Sleeper-Smith
Format Paperback
Page Count 264
Imprint University of Massachusetts Press
Publisher University of Massachusetts Press
Weight(grams) 400g