Book Review: At the Edge of Empire: The Backcountry in British North America

Book Review: At the Edge of Empire: The Backcountry in British North America (Regional Perspectives on Early America) by Eric Hinderaker and Peter C. Mancall

At the Edge of Empire: The Backcountry in British North America (Regional Perspectives on Early America), a book written by Eric Hinderaker (Associate Professor of History, University of Utah) and Peter C. Mancall (Professor of History, University of Southern California), discusses the relationships between indians and Europeans in North America. By taking Bakcountry as a case study, in At The Edge Of Empire: The Backcountry In British North America, the authors tells us the histories of the American frontiers in the 17th century. Among them, they are the manifold causes of conflict between them, as well as the daily life, which greatly can help us to know the frontier histories of the United States before the American Revolution.

Unlike those historians who approach the back country from a modern, American standpoint, in this book, the authors argue that its history should be explained from the perspective of the English experience in Ireland and Scotland in the 16th century. That’s to say, it should be located in the European context and its competition in North America.

It mainly focuses on three topics: the relationships between the frontier settlers and the native Americans, the relationship of the British Empire to the settlers, the relationship between Britain and France and their competition in North America for the hegemony. When the English and the French started their colonized policies in North America, they struggled with each other over the domination of lands, trades, and so on. Moreover, in order to fight against with other, they always deceived the Indians and asked them to support them and against their enemies. In this book, it talks about the conflicting attitudes, alliances and wars at that time.

The authors assume that the Pennsylvania backcountry is a good place for them to do their case study. In fact, it is really a good place for them to do their research there. Established by Quaker, Pennsylvania state was a good place for them to explore the frontier history, because the conflicts, struggles, between the Indians, English and French happened here.

 Generally speaking, I think it is a good case study to explore the relationships between the Indians and the Europeans, between the English and the French, between the frontier and domestic England and Frence. For those who like British Atlantic history, French Atlantic history, Native American history, the frontier history of the United States, it is a readable book.