On February 29th, 1704, a party of French and Indian raiders descended on the Massachusetts village of Deerfield, killing 50 residents and capturing more than a 100 others. In this work of history, the authors re-examine the attack and place it within a framework stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. They show how the assault grew out of the aspiration of Nw England family farmers, the ambitions of Canadian colonists, the calculations of French officials, the fears of Abenaki warriors, and the grief of Mohawk women as they all struggled to survive the ongoing confrontation of empires and cultures. This book reconstructs events from multiple viewpoints, through the stories of a variety of individuals involved, examining how captives and captors negotiated cultural boundaries. They take in social, political, literary, religious and military history, and reveal connections between cultures and histories usually considered separate.