The story of Pocahontas has always been focused on the supposedly rescue of John Smith and her marriage with a white colonist. However, there are other issues regarding her story that have been ignored, such as miscegenation, racial matters and colonial growth. In American Identity and the Myth of Pocahontas, Maria Barbosa goes beyond the fairy tale and shows there is a more serious outlook on that matter. The book fully analyses The Pocahontas Narratives in their historical, social and literary bases. It paves the readers' way by showing how these narratives had a crucial influence on the construction of an American national identity and, consequently, to the foundation of the new nation. This very readable book devotes every chapter to a successful, elaborate analysis, which has proven important, useful and necessary to establish this intersection between the texts and the shaping of the American nation.