Chiefdoms, Collapse, and Coalescence in the Early American South

'Beck not only opens up the Mississippian world of the sixteenth century but also the various historical forces that worked to transform that world during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. He writes with clarity, confidence, and authority and, without losing any of the power of the evidence or theory, he is careful to explain professional archaeological concepts for non-specialists. It is as fine a piece of scholarship as any I have ever seen.' Robbie Ethridge, University of Mississippi 'This is a tour de force on the subject of culture contact that should be widely read by both archaeologists and historians. Beck's argument is theoretically sophisticated and at the same time clearly presented.' David G. Anderson, University of Tennessee