HOWARD S. RUSSELL had a lifelong interest in New England’s earliest inhabitants, dating back to boyhood discoveries of occasional Indian artifacts in his family’s plowed fields. This led him over the last half century to a systematic examination of every account left by early explorers and observers, every reference in regional or local histories or archaeological writings; to discussions with informed persons; and to making numerous visits to Indian village sites and museums. From this wide variety of sources, therefore, he has set down this illustrated account of New England’s earliest settlers. Mr. Russell was author of the widely-acclaimed A Long, Deep Furrow: Three Centuries of Farming in New England (UPNE, 1976), about which Smithsonian said “A readable and splendid account . . . ‘sweep’ is not too grand a word for this rich and meticulous manuscript.”