Under the teeming metropolis that is present-day New York City lie the buried remains of long-lost worlds. The remnants of nineteenth-century New York reveal much about its inhabitants and neighborhoods, from fashionable Washington Square to the notorious Five Points. Underneath there are traces of the Dutch and English colonists who arrived in the area in the seventeenth century, as well as of the Africans they enslaved. And beneath all these layers is the land that Native Americans occupied for hundreds of generations from their first arrival eleven thousand years ago. Now two distinguished archaeologists draw on the results of more than a century of excavations to relate the interconnected stories of these different peoples who shared and shaped the land that makes up the modern city. In treating New York's five boroughs as one enormous archaeological site, Anne-Marie Cantwell and Diana diZerega Wall weave Native American, colonial, and post-colonial history into an absorbing, panoramic narrative. They also describe the work of the archaeologists who uncovered this evidence--nineteenth-century pioneers, concerned citizens, and today's professionals. In the process, Cantwell and Wall raise provocative questions about the nature of cities, urbanization, the colonial experience, Indian life, the family, and the use of space. Engagingly written and abundantly illustrated, Unearthing Gotham offers a fresh perspective on the richness of the American legacy.

Insubordinate Spirit is a unique exploration into the life of Elizabeth Winthrop and other seventeenth-century English Puritans who emigrated to the rough, virtually untouched wilderness of present-day New England. Excerpts from newly discovered personal diaries and correspondence provide readers with not only fascinating insights into the hardships, dangers, and losses inherent to English and Dutch settlers in the 1600s, but also first-hand descriptions of the local Native Americans' family life, allegiances, and society. Caught between the unendurable expectations of her Puritan relatives and land disputes with the neighboring Dutch, Elizabeth Winthrop demonstrated a tremendous strength of resolve to protect her own family and remain true to her heart.