SOLD! Empire and Frontier (by Samuel Marquis)

In the category of “better late than never,” I’m very pleased to share that last summer I sold Samuel Marquis’s Empire and Frontier: Colonel Peter Schuyler and the Valiant Iroquois in King William’s War: 1689–1701 to Pegasus Books. The book will be published on August 4, which means this is less a traditional deal announcement than a timely nudge to preorder 😉

Empire and Frontier tells the epic story of the alliance forged between Colonel Peter Schuyler, acting on behalf of English colonial New York, and the Five Nations of the Iroquois against the French and their Indigenous allies in King William’s War. Set decades before the better-known French and Indian War, the book reveals an early and pivotal contest for North America, when fragile alliances, cross-cultural diplomacy, and brutal frontier warfare helped determine the fate of empires.

At the center of the story is Peter Schuyler: Dutch-American mayor of Albany, Indian Affairs commissioner, militia colonel, and one of the most important but least remembered figures in early American history. Schuyler earned deep trust among the Iroquois through his respect for Native diplomacy and sovereignty, helping sustain the Covenant Chain alliance during a decade of raids, battles, political rebellion, and imperial conflict.

But this is not Schuyler’s story alone. Sam also follows Lawrence, a Mohawk war captain and peace negotiator who fought alongside Schuyler while navigating the survival of his people, and Hilletie van Olinda, a Mohawk-Dutch interpreter whose language skills and cultural fluency made her a crucial diplomatic go-between. Together, their intertwined stories bring to life the human stakes behind one of early America’s most consequential alliances.

Readers of Sam’s Captain Kidd will recognize the combination of page-turning narrative, rigorous research, and revisionist energy. Like Nathaniel Philbrick’s Mayflower and S. C. Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon, Empire and Frontier recovers a formative but underexplored chapter in the making of America, showing how diplomacy, war, and personal loyalty shaped the colonial frontier long before the Revolution.

Here is the Publisher's Marketplace deal memo:

Congratulations to Sam, Claiborne, and the team at Pegasus Books. I’m thrilled this one is almost here!