The Red Man’s Continent

At dusk in a Hampton Institute classroom, Native American and African American students sit down to arithmetic as a young teacher waits for their answers. Ellsworth Huntington sees the scene as a miniature of American history—and asks what paths brought its peoples there.

Writing in the early twentieth century, Huntington makes the continent itself his starting point: its mountains, plains, climate, resources, and routes to the sea. He traces migrations from Asia, Europe, and Africa, arguing that geography and past environments shaped the societies that took root in the Americas. His account also reflects the racial theories of its era, including claims about human capacities that modern readers should approach critically. What can the routes of migration—and the environments along them—reveal about the history of Aboriginal America?

With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world.

Who are we? We're Cairn Press. Our background is in design, publishing, typography, and technology. These skills fuel our mission to create the highest quality Public Domain eBooks available online, at an affordable price. We give them the treatment they deserve; our proprietary process restores books for a better overall user experience in design, readability, and e-reader compatibility.