Born in 1739 and raised by the “King’s Botanist for the North American continent,” William Bartram was encouraged from an early age by his parents to collect, record, and draw flowers, bones, plants, animals, and other findings. Close to the natural world around him, Bartram realized early in his life that the destruction of the ecosystem that he loved was brought on by the Europeans who occupied the continent. As an adult, Bartram was a naturalist who traveled the Southeast and came upon several groups of native inhabitants of the land, who named him “The Flower Hunter” and allowed him to live among them and collect specimens in their territory. This book is a collection of Bartram’s writings about the Muskogees, Cherokees, Choctaws, and Seminoles that he encountered, describing their lifestyles, customs, language, worldviews, and his interactions with them. Editor Matthew Jennings includes a chapter presenting Bartram’s life and work, as well as two chapters with excerpts from Bartram’s The Travels of William Bartram. In Travels, Bartram alternates between scientific observations and romantic descriptions of Indian life. The text concludes with Bartram’s observations of the Creek and Cherokee Indians, in response to questions posed by fellow naturalist Benjamin Barton Smith, and Indian civilization, collected by Henry Knox between 1789 and 1790. Annotation ©2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)