On Savage Shores

How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe

by Caroline Dodds Pennock

Adobe DRM (Kobo), 347 pages

Published Jan. 19, 2023 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

ISBN:: 978-1-4746-1693-5

(5 reviews)

In this groundbreaking new history, Caroline Dodds Pennock recovers the long-marginalised stories of the Indigenous Americans who - as enslaved people, diplomats, explorers, servants and traders - left a profound impact on European civilisation in the 'Age of Discovery'. On Savage Shores is a sweeping account of power and influence in America and Europe - one which could forever change the way we understand our global history.

5 editions

Nerd Picnic reviewed On Savage Shores by Caroline Dodds Pennock

It's not the author's fault - there just isn't much evidence

3 stars

The author would be the first to agree that European sources are almost all we have to chronicle the thousands of native American individuals who ended up in Europe between 1492 and the 19th century. Even those sources are quite thin when it comes to the intentions, ideas, and feelings of the Americans. That's one of her main points, in fact.

As a result, the bulk of this book is the historian doing her best to weave the fragments with ideas from modern native writers, anthropological and contextual information, and a very correct anti-colonial perspective.