Conversion, identity, and the Indian missionary.(Reverend Samson Occom ) From: Early American Literature | Date: September 22, 2001| Author: McCarthy, Keely | COPYRIGHT 2001 University of North Carolina Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Narratives recounting the efforts to convert Indians were ubiquitous in the eighteenth century. (1) Missionary tracts, as Hilary Wyss terms such texts, were published by missionary societies, such as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, by churches, and by missionaries themselves, and they appeared as journals, letters, memos, and essays. They often recounted the difficulties involved in missions, speculated about missionary method, and looked hopefully toward the convers...