Indian Captive, Indian King : Peter Williamson in America and Britain / Timothy J. Shannon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shannon, Timothy J., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Williamson, Peter, 1730-1799.

Williamson, Peter.

Captivity narratives--North America--History--18th century.

Captivity narratives.

Indian captivities--North America.

Indian captivities.

Working class--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Working class.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (344 pages)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

In 1758, Peter Williamson appeared in the streets of Aberdeen, Scotland, dressed as a Native American Indian and telling a remarkable tale. He claimed that as a young boy he had been kidnapped from the city and sold into slavery in America. In performances and in a printed narrative he peddled to his audiences, Williamson described his tribulations as an indentured servant, Indian captive, soldier, and prisoner of war. In his performances and publications, Williamson offered British audiences a distinctly plebian perspective on the British Empire in North America. His unique career capitalized on the curiosity that the Seven Years' War ignited among the British public for news and information about America and its Native inhabitants, but his reputation for fabrication also made his contemporaries and historians reluctant to believe him. Indian Captive, Indian King is the first biography of Williamson to separate the fact from fiction in his tale and explain what it tells us about how the working people of eighteenth-century Britain, so often depicted as victims of empire, found their own ways to create lives and exploit opportunities within it.-- Provided by publisher

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Note on Dates, Money, and Williamson’s Narrative

Prologue: Aberdeen, 1758

PART I. HARD FATE

1. Kidnapped

2. Sold as a Slave

3. Captive

4. Soldier

5. Prisoner of War

PART II. THE INTERESTING TALE

6. Strolling Adventurer

7. Poor Peter Williamson

8. Peter Williamson, Pursuer

9. From the Other World

10. Bookseller, Printer, and Postman

11. King of the Indians

Epilogue: Edinburgh, 1822

Abbreviations

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Aug 2018)

ISBN:

9780674981225

0674981227

9780674981218

0674981219

OCLC:

1017751564