Abstract
Regular readers of the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography may have noticed a pattern in recent years: the October issue is often, if not always, a special issue on a particular topic. In future, read-ers can expect one special topical issue per year, generally in October. This year we focus on the eighteenth-century Pennsylvania backcountry, which scholars also refer to as the Pennsylvania frontier, borderland, or cross-roads, among other terms, depending upon their preference or emphasis. The issue grew out of a recognition that this is a burgeoning field, with numerous scholars, both young and established, finding fruitful ground to till. This issue does not attempt to provide a comprehensive look at that new scholarship; rather, it provides a sampling of work by some new scholars, surveys and analyzes recent literature on one aspect of the Pennsylvania backcountry—namely Indian-white relations—and, taking a cue from the popularity of the "Hidden Gems" essays of the October 2011 special issue on the Civil War, includes a smattering of essays on a variety of primary sources.
