The Indian World of George Washington

The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation

By: Colin G. Calloway

Narrated by: Paul Heitsch

In this sweeping new biography, Colin Calloway uses the prism of George Washington's life to bring focus to the great Native leaders of his time - Shingas, Tanaghrisson, Bloody Fellow, Joseph Brant, Red Jacket, Little Turtle - and the tribes they represented: the Iroquois Confederacy, Lenape, Miami, Creek, Delaware; in the process, he returns them to their rightful place in the story of America's founding. The Indian World of George Washington spans decades of Native American leaders' interactions with Washington, from his early days as surveyor of Indian lands to his military career against both the French and the British to his presidency, when he dealt with Native Americans as a head of state would with a foreign power, using every means of diplomacy and persuasion to fulfill the new republic's destiny by appropriating their land. By the end of his life, Washington knew more than anyone else in America about the frontier and its significance to the future of his country.

The Indian World of George Washington offers a fresh portrait of the most-revered American and the Native Americans whose story has been only partially told. Calloway's biography invites us to look again at the history of America's beginnings and see the country in a whole new light.

©2018 Colin G. Calloway (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Seeking the truth

I appreciate not biased accounts of history.
I saw how george went from a greedy individual
And incompetent commander to a heavy hearted old man trying to find a way to help the original inhabitants that he helped to displace.
Although he wanted to help them he never strayed for his desire for white people to occupy their land. It was ironic that the lands he fought so hard to obtain through deception and white& political entitlement never produced the fortunes he was so desperate for
And he died with resentment at squatters and land speculators without seeing the mirror.

A wonderful historical masterpiece

This book enlightened my understanding of why and how our country became the great nation it has become!

Fascinating and Well Researched

Vivid portrayal of the complexity of Indian and American colonial and post revolutionary relations. George Washington makes an effective lense through which to explore the motivations of both government and its citizens’ behavior in regard to the Indians and their land. Filled smoothly with references gleaned from other historians. Filled with interesting details. Never dull. Insightful.

An insightful look into Washington and his World

Calloway’s work cuts through generations of myth making to reveal a candid look at Washington’s fundamental motivations in relation to the Native Population. The Washington that emerges is a figure that is human in both his strengths and many fallibilities.
The narration at times can be awkward in pace, pauses and pronunciation but this does little to distract from a strong narrative.

Great

I learned an awful lot from this book. I suggest it to anyone interested in GW, Native Americans, early history of our country. The narrator has an interesting way of speaking but you’ll get use to it.

The missing addendum to early American history

A well-written account of indigenous relations from the early American perspective. As a standalone work, it is engaging and insightful. However, it does not stand on its own. It is likely best read as a supplement to Middlekauffs' "Glorious Cause," and Chernows' "Washington." The author masterfully contributes to the deepening of the body of historical understanding, by adding the richness of a broadened view to include contemporary perspectives of native peoples. Though, on occasion, the author runs afoul of their own criticism by dictating the sentiments of indians with a very colonial/early empire American lens. That being said, the enrichment of historical narratives and the inclusion of indigenous perspectives is long overdue and should be applauded.

Fantastic book. Choppy narration.

Great book. Very detailed. An essential read if you want to know the full story of our nation's early history. Narration could have more smooth. Sometimes made random pauses which were distracting.

The missing pieces of colonial American history

I picked this book up after doing extensive reading on colonial America (Malone, Flexner, and a couple others). In my estimation, this book presented the answers to major holes in traditional American history. Presented very fairly and what appears to be accurate when taken in context of the surrounding histories mentioned earlier.

A must read for all Americans.

"Yes, but do you have a flag?"

A comprehensive, if sometimes dense, history of George Washington's interactions with indigenous peoples of America across his life as surveyor, British subject, Soldier, Revolutionary general, and President.

Calloway's 2018 survey of Washington and the Amer. Indians is less about Washington himself than it is about the Revolutionary generation's interactions with the dozens of tribes and hundreds of tribal leaders they encountered from the 1750s through the end of the century. Washington's experience serves as a representative sample of how the landed gentry viewed the various tribes and their relationships with them.

Let's just say it was complicated. It's simplistic and juvenile to lump all colonists together with a uniform view of the indigenous tribes just as it's simplistic and juvenile to assume all tribes acted the same. Some colonists/revolutionaries were very sympathetic and honorable towards the various tribes, many were not. Some recognized the tension between honoring treaty obligations and property boundaries with a populace that saw little problem with squatting on fertile open land (in part because nobody was within miles of it). Some tribes were peacable and wanted to attempt to coexist with the Europeans, others wanted to wage war, others wanted to leverage the European presence to their own advantage in their own internecine battles with other tribes.

Calloway does a decent job laying out these internal and external conflicts with Washington and the myriad tribal leaders (though he is far too credulous with stories of "the settlers kidnapped by war parties loved tribal life so much they didn't want to leave!" when there's ample evidence on the other side of the ledger).

Washington himself comes across as REALLY REALLY REALLY interested in land speculation and the profits to be gained by it. This does not diminish Washington as a man or leader (his early "skills" as a General are something else entirely -- let's face it -- he wasn't that good and Calloway recounts his troubles very well), but places him firmly within his class and time. In a land with billions of open acreage, it's natural for a population that revered real property and title to think they hit the motherlode. And they kind of did....but for the people that were there.

And that's where the inevitable and irreconcilable conflict between the Europeans and indigenous tribes comes in. A culture that valued real property and land title and agriculture vs largely nomadic tribes that subsisted on farming. To be pithy, the foreignness of the tribal view towards ownership is like the guy in the gym that is working on one machine but claims he's using 10 other machines as part of his "circuit." The two approaches are so opposed, one had to adapt to the other, and one side did (though not without cost).

Very Enlightening

This is a part of history that was NOT covered in the 1970s in high school or college. It gives a very clear view if the 1700s and America's relationship with native Americans.