First published in 1987, "Beyond the Covenant Chain" was one of the first studies to acknowledge that the Iroquois never had an empire. This book remains a valuable study of diplomatic amd military relations among Native American groups in 17th- and 18th-century North America.

ContentsAcknowledgments Contributors Foreword by Wilcomb E. Washburn Preface to the paperback edition by Daniel K. Richter and James H. Merrell Maps The Iroquois and Their Neighbors in the Early 1670s The Iroquois and Their Neighbors in the Early 1760s Introduction Daniel K. Richter and James H. Merrell Part I Perspectives from Iroquoia1. Ordeals of the Longhouse: The Five Nations in Early American History Daniel K. Richter2. Linking Arms: The Structure of Iroquois Intertribal Diplomacy Mary Druke Becker3. Covenant and Consensus: Iroquois and English, 1676–1760 Richard L. Haanpart II Near Neighbors4. Toward the Covenant Chain: Iroquois and Southern New England Algonquins, 1637–1684 Neal Salisbury5. "Pennsylvania Indians" and the Iroquois Francis Jennings6. Peoples "In Between": The Iroquois and the Ohio Indians, 1720–1768 Michael N. McConnellPart III Distant Friends and Foes7. "Their Very Bones Shall Fight": The Catawba-Iroquois Wars James H. Merrell8. Cherokee Relations with the Iroquois in the Eighteenth Century Theda Perdue9. "As the Wind Scatters the Smoke": The Tuscaroras in the Eighteenth Century Douglas W. BoyceNotesIndex

“A state-of-the-art look at Iroquois relations with other tribes. . . . An excellent example of how an Indian-centered approach to colonial history can contribute to our understanding of the broader world in which all colonial Americans lived.”—Richard Aquila