The European ‘discovery” and conquest of America was one of the most cataclysmic events in history, leading to the wholesale destruction of millions of people and hundreds of flourishing societies. As far as the history books are concerned, Native Americans have been secondary to an essentially Euro-American story. Now comes a rigorously authoritative, beautifully written, comprehensive history that - as Richard Gott wrote in the London Literary Review  - “places the 'Native Americans’ at the centre of the historical stage, abandoning the traditional version of the American past in which the 'Indians’ had a subservient role on the periphery of someone else’s epic.” A historical narrative that puts Native Americans at the centre of their struggle for survival against the tide of invading European peoples and cultures. Groundbreaking, critically acclaimed history of the Native American peoples.“A sweeping, well-written, long-view history of American Indian societies . . . a trustworthy telling of a sad epic of misunderstanding, mayhem, and massacre.” –Kirkus Reviews (starred).