Focusing on American Indian communities in southern New England from the Revolution to Reconstruction, the book explores their lives on the socioeconomic fringes. It highlights their movement between semi-autonomous communities and towns, as well as extensive intermarriage with black and white populations. Through this lens, the work delves into the complexities of identity, community dynamics, and the historical context of race relations during this transformative period in American history.
Behind the Frontier tells the story of the Indians in Massachusetts as English settlements encroached on their traditional homeland between 1675 and 1775, from King Philip’s War to the Battle of Bunker Hill. Daniel R. Mandell explores how local needs and regional conditions shaped an Indian ethnic group that transcended race, tribe, village, and clan, with a culture that incorporated new ways while maintaining a core of "Indian" customs. He examines the development of Native American communities in eastern Massachusetts, many of which survive today, and observes emerging patterns of adaptation and resistance that were played out in different settings as the American nation grew westward in the nineteenth century.