White Captives: Gender and Ethnicity on the American Frontier

White Captives offers a new perspective of Indian-white coexistence on the American frontier through analysis of historical, anthropological, political, and literary materials.

Namias shows that visual, literary, and historical accounts of the capture of Euro-Americans by Indians are commentaries on the uncertain boundaries of gender, race, and culture during the colonial Indian Wars, the American Revolution, and the Civil War. She compares the experiences and representations of male and female captives over time and on successive frontiers and examines the narratives of captives Jane McCrea, Mary Jemison, and Sarah Wakefield.

American Historical Review

"[A] skillfully written analysis.--Journal of American History
"Namias is an enjoyable storyteller as well as a good historian. . . . To the dry and rigorous analysis of the ethnohistorian she adds warmth and empathy.--William and Mary Quarterly

"This book brings us closer to understanding the role of gender and ethnicity in captivity narratives and in American society.--Journal of the West

"White Captives is thoroughly researched, weighty, and worthy.--Journal of American Ethnic History

"An impressively researched, imaginative, and powerful exploration of racial and gender boundaries in frontier America.--Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Midwifes Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812