The Unredeemed Captive, John Demos
The Unredeemed Captive, John Demos
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The Unredeemed Captive
A Family Story from Early America

Author: John Demos

Narrator: Grover Gardner

Unabridged: 12 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/08/2017

Synopsis

The setting for this haunting and encyclopedically researched work of history is colonial Massachusetts, where English Puritans first endeavored to “civilize” a “savage” native populace.There, in February 1704, a French and Indian war party descended on the village of Deerfield, abducting a Puritan minister and his children. Although John Williams was eventually released, his daughter horrified the family by staying with her captors and marrying a Mohawk husband.Out of this incident, Bancroft Prize–winning historian John Devos has constructed a gripping narrative that opens a window into North America where English, French, and Native Americans faced one another across gulfs of culture and belief—and sometimes crossed over.

About John Demos

John Demos is an American author and historian and the Samuel Knight Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University. His books include The Unredeemed Captive, which won the Francis Parkman Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Award, and Entertaining Satan, which won the Bancroft Prize. He lives in Tyringham, Massachusetts.

About Grover Gardner

Grover Gardner is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards.

Reviews

Goodreads review by John on December 21, 2010

One of the most compelling and readable works of history I encountered all year. And I read a lot of history. This is a scholarly work, but it was written with kind of a fiction tone, and Demos uses a lot of speculation to get inside people's heads and really ponder their experiences. This does what......more

Goodreads review by Katherine on November 30, 2016

One of the things The Unredeemed Captive cemented for me is that my interest is in the phenomenon of Indian captivity, not the captivity narratives themselves. As conditions of their production, these narratives are written by Puritans who have rejected the alien culture (it's clear in The Unredeeme......more

Goodreads review by Josie on February 09, 2012

I am not a history major, clearly. I only made it 50 pages into this book and couldn't imagine slogging my way through the rest. I love the "story" here, but Demos was clearly more focused on primary sources and fact...after fact...after fact... Minute details distracted from what could have been a......more

Quotes

“The words that come to mind when reading his book are: skill, historical acuity, and intellectual integrity.” New York Times

“Fascinating and alluring in the way the best writing on history can be.” Observer (London)

“Powerful and useful…Demos has achieved the kind of balancing act that historians constantly strive for but seldom achieve.” New Republic

“Fascinating, lively, and especially timely to an age struggling to understand the implications of its own cross-cultural encounters.” Kirkus Reviews

Awards

  • Francis Parkman Prize
  • National Book Award
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