Book excerpt: The story of America's first permanent English settlement as told through its relationship with Virginia’s native peoples. Certificate of Commendation, American Association for State and Local History, 2003 Addressed to specialists and nonspecialists alike, Before and After Jamestown introduces the Powhatans--the Native Americans of Virginia's coastal plains, who played an integral part in the life of the Williamsburg and Jamestown settlements--in scenes that span 1,100 years, from just before their earliest contact with non-Indians to the present day. Synthesizing a wealth of documentary and archaeological data, the authors have produced a book at once thoroughly grounded in scholarship and accessible to the general reader. They have also extended the historical account through the native people's long-term adaptation to European immigrants and into the immediate present and their continuing efforts to gain greater recognition as Indians. Illustrated with more than 100 photographs, maps, and drawings, the book also includes an entire chapter, from the Powhatan perspective, on the original English fort at Jamestown. The authors provide suggestions for additional reading for both children and adults as well as a list of Indian-related sites to visit in Virginia.