
Setting All the Captives Free
Capture, Adjustment, and Recollection in Allegheny Country
Ian K. Steele(Author)
McGill-Queen's University Press
Will be published approx. on 24. October 2013
Book
Hardback
708 pages
978-0-7735-4184-9 (ISBN)
Description
Among the many upheavals in North America caused by the French and Indian War was a commonplace practice that affected the lives of thousands of men, women, and children: being taken captive by rival forces. Most previous studies of captivity in early America are content to generalize from a small selection of sources, often centuries apart. In Setting All the Captives Free, Ian Steele presents, from a mountain of data, the differences rather than generalities as well as how these differences show the variety of circumstances that affected captives' experiences. The product of a herculean effort to identify and analyze the captives taken on the Allegheny frontier during the era of the French and Indian War, Setting All the Captives Free is the most complete study of this topic. Steele explores genuine, doctored, and fictitious accounts in an innovative challenge to many prevailing assumptions and arguments, revealing that Indians demonstrated humanity and compassion by continuing to take numerous captives when their opponents took none, by adopting and converting captives into kin during the war, and by returning captives even though doing so was a humiliating act that betrayed their societies' values. A fascinating and comprehensive work by an acclaimed scholar, Setting All the Captives Free takes the study of the French and Indian War in America to an exciting new level.
Reviews / Votes
"Setting All the Captives Free is filled with insights and conclusions that enlighten readers and challenge conventional wisdom. It is destined to be the definitive study on captivity in early American history for years to come." Timothy J. Shannon, Department of History, Gettysburg College "Setting All the Captives Free is recommended highly to anyone who admires nuanced, impeccably crafted, and exhaustively researched work on a subject and period in North American history that demands to be understood with all of its subtleties intact." Da "Unlike New England captives, the nearly three thousand captives taken in Allegheny warfare have received little attention by scholars. In Setting All the Captives Free, Steele places captives at the center of his study of warfare in the Allegheny countryMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Montreal
Canada
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Paper over boards
With dust jacket
Illustrations
8 b&w photos
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 50 mm
Weight
1151 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7735-4184-9 (9780773541849)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Ian K. Steele
Setting All the Captives Free
Capture, Adjustment, and Recollection in Allegheny Country
E-Book
11/2013
MQUP
€59.49
Available for download

Ian K. Steele
Setting All the Captives Free
Capture, Adjustment, and Recollection in Allegheny Country
E-Book
11/2013
1st Edition
De Gruyter
€32.99
Available for download
Person
Ian K. Steele is professor emeritus and adjunct research professor of history at the University of Western Ontario. His previous books include Politics of Colonial Policy, Guerillas and Grenadiers, The English Atlantic, Betrayals, and Warpaths. A festschrift in his honor, English Atlantics Revisited, edited by Nancy L. Rhoden, is available from McGill-Queen's University Press.