ABSTRACT
In assessing the relations of natives and newcomers in North America, James H.Merrell argues that the most vital consideration was the specific location of Indians either side of a moving boundary-a cultural frontier-running longitudinally (north-south) throughout the continent. On one flank, native Americans set many of the terms of cultural contact; on the other, colonists did. Rather than the regional categorizations employed by Bailyn and Greene, Merrell posits a simpler and-for his purposescompelling bipolar division that makes sense of the myriad encounters between Indians and colonists in early America.
