View of the Hebrews; or the Tribes of Israel in America is an 1823 book by Ethan Smith, a Congregationalist minister, who argued that Native Americans were descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The lost 10 tribes were believed to have disappeared after being taken captive by the Assyrians in the eighth century BCE. Smith's speculation was inspired by the apocryphal book II Esdras 13:41, which claims that the ten tribes settled in a far country, "where never mankind dwelt." Far from purporting to be holy writ, View of the Hebrews attempts to solve a puzzle of history. In itself, it's an interesting listen which offers fascinating insight into the language and perspectives of the US in the 1820s.
