Perspective

Colin Calloway is a professor of history at Dartmouth College, which is mentioned in the text as one of several organizations originally set up to educate Indians. Calloway is very interested in providing a fresh perspective on early colonization, and to bring to light a sampling of the Indian-generated texts which had so often been ignored in mainstream history textbooks. The World Turned Upside Down sets itself up as an alternative to conventional history, a book which operates from the indigenous people's point of view rather than the conqueror's point of view. Calloway thus operates from a perspective which rejects the normative version of events.

Beyond Calloway's commentary, the book contains texts from many different authors, and so the "perspective" of the text could be said to vary widely. The Indian people were not uniform in their response to European encroachment. Some texts demonstrate an obsequious stance, with...