Vol. 1 provides a comprehensive history of the native peoples of North America from their arrival in the Western hemisphere to the present. It describes how native peoples have dealt with the environmental diversity of North America and have responded to the different European colonial regimes and national governments that have established themselves in recent centuries. It also examines the development of a pan-Indian identity since the nineteenth century and provides a comparison not found in other histories of how native peoples have fared in Canada and the United States.

v. 1. North America / edited by Bruce G. Trigger, Wilcomb E. Washburn (2 v.) -- v. 2. Mesoamerica / edited by Richard E.W. Adams, Murdo J. MacLeod (2 v.) -- v. 3. South America / edited by Frank Saloman, Stuart B. Schwartz (2 v.).