New Riverside Captivity Narratives History Handbook

This volume collects a wide variety of works from a uniquely American literary tradition, the captivity narrative. Beginning with an excerpt from Hans Staden's The True History of His Captivity, which influenced the American captivity narrative, this volume presents accounts by early settlers held captive by Native Americans (Mary Rowlandson, John Smith), narratives by African American slaves (Olaudah Equiano, John Marrant), and others. Collected with the real-life accounts are two captivity poems by Lucy Terry and John Rolling Ridge, and several popular tales and legends on the subject.

Classic Books Library presents this brand new edition of the “Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” (1682). Mary Rowlandson (c. 1637-1711), nee Mary White, was born in Somerset, England. Her family moved to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the United States, and she settled in Lancaster, Massachusetts, marrying in 1656. It was here that Native Americans attacked during King Philip’s War, and Mary and her three children were taken hostage. This text is a profound first-hand account written by Mary detailing the experiences and conditions of her capture, and chronicling how she endured the 11 weeks in the wilderness under her Native American captors. It was published six years after her release, and explores the themes of mortal fragility, survival, faith and will, and the complexities of human nature. It is acknowledged as a seminal work of American historical literature.

Rowlandson's famous account of her abduction by the Narragansett Indians in 1676 is accompanied by three other narratives of captivity among the Delawares, the Iroquois, and the Indians of the Allegheny.

Presents the narratives by women who were captured by Indians--from 17th-century New England to late 19th-century Colorado. In her introduction, the editor defines the genre and presents the rationale for her choices in the book. The next four chapters contain complete narratives (such as M.W. Rowlandson's during King Philip's War) and excerpts from narratives about captivity in many different Indian societies of North America. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Mary Rowlandson, a Minister's wife in New England as it says underwent a cruel and inhumane treatment from the Indians that took her captive. This is a story of sorrow and pain, of faith and truth, of tears and reflections, and of grief and hopes. The Indians poured their wrath and anger against this helpless small community.As she tells us in her narrative, in the midst of it all, miraculously, one of these salvages struck her as a lost star or beam of light by offering her a Bible he had from the Medfield fight, where they committed sacking and looting. He took it from his basket and gave it to Mary and she interpreted it as a gift from her merciful God in the middle of this valley of darkness.

Captivity Narratives - Six True Stories of Indian Captivity - American Indian Slaves & Captives. Captivity narratives are stories of people captured by enemies whom they generally consider "uncivilized." Traditionally, historians have made limited use of certain captivity narratives. They have regarded the genre with suspicion because of its ideological underpinnings. As a result of new scholarly approaches, historians with a more certain grasp of Native American cultures are distinguishing between plausible statements of fact and value-laden judgements in order to study the narratives as rare sources from "inside" Native societies. Contemporary historians such as Linda Colley and anthropologists such as Pauline Turner Strong have also found the narratives useful in analyzing how the colonists constructed the "other," as well as what the narratives reveal about the settlers' sense of themselves and their culture, and the experience of crossing the line to another. Colley has studied the long history of English captivity in other cultures, both the Barbary pirate captives who preceded those in North America, and British captives in cultures such as India, after the North American experience. Accounts of captivity narratives based in North America were published from the 18th through the 19th centuries, but they were part of a well-established genre in English literature. There had already been English accounts of captivity by Barbary pirates, or in the Middle East, which established some of the major elements of the form. Following the American experience, additional accounts were written after British people were captured during exploration and settlement in India and East Asia. INCLUDES: A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison, Who was taken by the Indians, in the year 1755, when only about twelve years of age, and has continued to reside amongst them to the present time. By James E. Seaver. Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson By Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Captives Among the Indians, First-hand Narratives of Indian Wars, Customs, Tortures, and Habits of Life in Colonial Times Edited by Horace Kephart Col. James Smith's Life among the Delawares, 1755-1759. The Narrative of Francesco Giuseppe Bressani, S.J., relating his captivity among the Iroquois, In 1644. Capture and Escape of Mercy Harbison, 1792. The Indian Captive: A Narrative of the Adventures and Sufferings of Matthew Brayton - In His Thirty-Four Years of Captivity among the Indians of North-Western America