Van der Donck’s first-hand account is as close as you can come to seeing New Netherland through the eyes of an original settler. Arriving in 1641 as the schout of Rensselaerswijck, he subsequently moved to Manhattan and locked horns with Peter Stuyvesant – he’s the forgotten hero referred to above. One of his most valuable acts was to pen this Description of the natural world and the native inhabitants he encountered in his new home. “One of America’s oldest literary treasures,” historian Thomas O’Donnell called the work.

Available from the New Netherland Institute for $20. To order email   nni@newnetherlandinstitute.org