The moment of contact between two peoples, two alien societies, marks the opening of an epoch and the joining of histories. What if it had happened differently?

The stories that indigenous peoples and Europeans tell about their first encounters with one another are enormously valuable historical records, but their relevance extends beyond the past. Settler populations and indigenous peoples the world over are engaged in negotiations over legitimacy, power, and rights. These struggles cannot be dissociated from written and oral accounts of "contact" moments, which not only shape our...

The moment of contact between two peoples, two alien societies, marks the opening of an epoch and the joining of histories. What if it had happened differently?

The stories that indigenous peoples and Europeans tell about their first encounters with one another are enormously valuable historical records, but their relevance extends beyond the past. Settler populations and indigenous peoples the world over are engaged in negotiations over legitimacy, power, and rights. These struggles cannot be dissociated from written and oral accounts of "contact" moments, which not only shape our...

Winner of the 2009 Clio Prize for British Columbia

The history of Aboriginal-settler interactions in Canada continues to haunt the national imagination. Despite billions of dollars spent on the ?Indian problem, ? Aboriginal people remain the poorest in the country. Because the stereotype of the ?lazy Indian? is never far from the surface, many Canadians wonder if the problem lies with ?Indians? themselves.

John Lutz traces Aboriginal people's involvement in the new economy, and their displacement from it, from the first arrival of Europeans to the 1970s. Drawing on an extensive...