painting of a native american "We shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so caused him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world."
—John Winthrop, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony

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Table of Contents

PART 1: MEETING OF CULTURES
Comparing Literary Works
Onondaga The Earth on Turtle's Back Myth 16
Modoc When Grizzlies Walked Upright Myth 19
Navajo from The Navajo Origin Legend Legend 22
Iroquois from The Iroquois Constitution Nonfiction 24
Comparing Literary Works
Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca A Journey Through Texas Nonfiction 32
García López de Cárdenas Boulders Taller Than the Great Tower of Seville Nonfiction 37
Olaudah Equiano from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Nonfiction 44


PART 2: FOCUS ON LITERARY FORMS: NARRATIVE ACCOUNTS
Christopher Columbus from Journal of the First Voyage to America Nonfiction 62
Comparing Literary Works
John Smith from The General History of Virginia Nonfiction 72
William Bradford from Of Plymouth Plantation Nonfiction 78


PART 3: THE PURITAN INFLUENCE
Comparing Literary Works
Edward Taylor Huswifery Poem 100
Anne Bradstreet To My Dear and Loving Husband Poem 102
Jonathan Edwards from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Speech 108