The Return of the Native: American Indian Political Resurgence

by Stephen Cornell

An incisive look at American Indian and Euro-American relations from the seventeenth century to the present, this book focuses on how such relations--and Indian responses to them--have shaped contemporary Indian political fortunes. Cornell shows how, in the early days of colonization, Indians were able to maintain their nationhood by playing off the competing European powers; and how the American Revolution and westward expansion eventually caused Native Americans to lose their land, social cohesion, and economic independence. The final part of the book recounts the slow, steady reemergence of American Indian political power and identity, evidenced by militant political activism in the 1960s and early 1970s. By paying particular attention to the evolution of Indian groups as collective actors and to changes over time in Indian political opportunities and their capacities to act on those opportunities, Cornell traces the Indian path from power to powerlessness and back to power
again.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

278 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Michelle Boyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that this book has a lot of great things going for it. To begin, Stephen Cornell is an effective and well-known scholar that has done vast research to prepare this text. The text does a good job of cramming a lot of information into just over 200 pages (excluding notes) which makes you feel like you've both read a LOT but have done so quickly. The discussion starts way back with the fur trade (a lot of good information here that I was not expecting when I picked this book up) and then goes forward through the IRA, BIA, etc. So as a whole, I give this points for having a lot of information that can be fairly easily digested.

But there are a few things that are still "troublesome" for me. Cornell continuously uses the term "supratribalism" but never fully offers a definition of this concept. This is something I've seen quite a lot in recent scholarship--using new terms/concepts without ever giving a full definition--just use a term over and over again until the reader is convinced it is the "new term" they need to accept. You can glean from the word its overall meaning: encompassing many tribes. Nonetheless, I'm not a fan of scholars that don't offer really clear cut definitions of themes/concepts in their writing.

Let me also just comment that when this text was gifted to me, it was gifted because I'm currently researching contemporary representations of warriorhood in literature. A professor gave me this book and said that I might want to look at how Cornell discusses American Indian political resurgence -- hey! that's in the title! -- as a comparison to current activism and warriorhood. I was quite excited about this but the "resurgence" is not a primary focus here. We start with the fur trade, move to the Indian Removal Act, discuss the BIA, etc., and the Return of the Native doesn't appear until page 187ish (of a book just over 200 pages).

This is a good history book: it offers a vast amount of information, is well delivered, and for scholarly writing is not as droll as other texts I've read on similar subjects. However: I think it somewhat fails to deliver on contemporary aspects of resurgence. I feel like it needs a "follow up" text perhaps?

[Andrew Sternisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid history of Indian-White relations. Feels a bit dated at this point, but worth the read and still has some use.

[Marcelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good summary of what's been going on with the Native Am. (or, now, the preferred term is American Indian) since colonial days. Some really interesting and important history in a somewhat dryly written package. I learned a lot form this book - and for that it deservesmore than three stars but it was a bit sluggish to tread through in some parts. Still, great info on the impact of the fur trade, westward expansion, government interference and more recent militant movements from within the community (and some pretty neat anecdotes on the ghost dance, etc.)

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thin, fast read that tells a compelling history of American Indian resistance that is not usually told in the history books. Rather than meek, bewildered, and unable to respond to the catastrophic encounter with the Spanish, British and Americans, the Indian Americans are portrayed as actively organizing and uniting in myriad acts of rebellion. Most interesting is learning about how religion and religious revivals were used as a tool in marshaling resistance and renewing hope.