The Invention of the Creek Nation, 1670-1763
Drawing on archaeological evidence and often-neglected Spanish source material, The Invention of the Creek Nation, 1670-1763 explores the political history of the Creek Indians of Georgia and Alabama and the emergence of the Creek Nation during the colonial era in the American Southeast. In part a study of Creek foreign relations, this book examines the creation and application of the "neutrality" policy-defined here as the Coweta Resolution of 1718-for which the Creeks have long been famous, in an era marked by the imperial struggle for the American South. Also a study of the culture of internal Creek politics, this work shows the persistence of a "traditional" kinship-based political system in which town and clan affiliation remained supremely important. These traditions, coupled with political intrusions by the region's three European powers, promoted the spread of Creek factionalism and mitigated the development of a regional Creek Confederacy. But while traditions endured, the struggle to maintain territorial integrity against Britain also promoted political innovation. In this context the territorially defined Creek Nation emerged as a legal concept in the era of the French and Indian War, as imperial policies of an earlier era gave way to the territorial politics that marked the beginning of a new one.
Creek diplomacy in an imperial Atlantic world
"Creek Diplomacy in an Imperial Atlantic World," argues that Creek leaders saw opportunities for Creek peoples to play an important political and economic role in the Atlantic world even while the Confederacy itself was still forming. This study explores Creek participation in the Atlantic world in two ways. First, it traces Creek diplomatic travel to European centers. Second, it examines Creek reception of European traders and diplomats in Creek towns. In this way, it traces Creek diplomacy in its external and internal forms, as Creeks moved outward to establish diplomatic relations with others, and dealt with outsiders who came to them for the same purpose. 
Creek diplomats traveled extensively to promote their aims for almost three centuries. They visited important seats of European power in the American southeast, and they sent delegations to England, Mexico, and Canada. The Creeks were often successful in these missions, and their hosts recognized the Creeks' economic and political goals. The way Creeks dealt with outsiders within Creek territories is equally revealing of Creek understanding of their Atlantic world. Reception of European and Native American diplomats provided a crucial source of information for Creek people. Creeks preserved knowledge they gleaned from these visitors and passed that knowledge down over the generations. 
"Creek Diplomacy" argues that the peoples who comprised the Creek Confederacy began learning about Europeans well before they coalesced into the Confederacy. Linguistics, cultural elements, and archaeological evidence demonstrate that the Creek Confederacy was formed partly from the refugees of previous cultures from across the southeastern region. These peoples brought to the Creek Confederacy not only their languages and cultures, but social memories of experiences with Europeans. By the time of the Creek Confederacy, these experiences included more than a hundred years of contact with Europeans. This study reveals the ways in which these experiences informed the development of Creek diplomatic policies.
Once Upon a Time: Oral Traditions as History in Africa
Most precolonial African civilizations were "oral civilizations." Our own European or American contemporary societies are "liter ate civilizations." Inevitably, the attitudes of two such different so cieties toward words and speech differ radically. For the Dogon of the Sudan the world was created when speech was created: "in the beginning was the word."1 The Tio of Brazzaville use the same word to designate "navel" and "personal name" and believe that if one knows the name of a person one has knowledge of the essence of that person and can bewitch him. What is in a name? To these people, everything. All oral cultures distinguish between important words and banale speech. Most commonly, these important words are inherited from forefathers: the oral traditions. The attitude of