Indians of the Americas

by John Collier

paperback, has a totom pole and 2 indians on cover

Genres: History, Native American, Anthropology, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1948

Reviews

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book opens with a surprisingly passionate, articulate, and profound plea for respect and consideration of the way of life of the Indians of the Americas. It also has some pretty insightful and poetic dismissals of the 'white' way of life with regards to that, and intersperses these well-written critiques throughout its short length.

Unfortunately, after setting those standards, the book becomes a rather generalised and routine look at the history of the Indians and their suffering at the hands of foreign invaders, with an emphasis on the bureaucratic methods of oppression, and a rather stuffy, 'history text book' focus on the dates and names of laws and such.

Not to say that historical veracity and research is bad, but this book doesn't do a great job of balancing hard facts with subtle details. Personally I felt it focused a little too much on detached and distanced information about the development of laws, bureaus, statistics and politics; whilst omitting a lot of the more emotional colour of individual cases, and the motivations and fears of whites and Indians at the time.

Nevertheless, it's a good book that can serve readers with a slightly better sense of what actually happened, as well as acting as strong source of research on the subject. It just doesn't focus enough on the former, I think.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collier came into Bureau of Indian affairs with FDR. He gives about half of his book over to detail of the tragedy of European interdiction into aboriginal cultures in the more populated South and Central American cultures; Inca, Aztec, etc. He then covers from earliest Europeans in the more thinly populated continent of North American and covers the litany of abuses from the earliest colonial times to the scandal-ridden Harding administration and Albert B. Fall, Senator from New Mexico and the Secretary of the Interior. This includes a few pages of detail on The Native American Church (NAC), a Native American religion that teaches a combination of traditional Native American beliefs and Christianity, with sacramental use of the peyote. He is particularly objective and even respectful of this development.

This brings things to his time, which he sees as a period of (finally) healthy Indian-government relations, particularly around livestock management and economic self-sufficiency.

[Naim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would compare this in impact to Susan George's How the other half dies".
Thank you Marlon Brando for the recommendation.

"Let me stress especially a fact upon which all scholars are agreed. Maize, which antedated the oldest of the civilizations that grew up in Mexico, Central America and South America, was the most difficult and one of the most fundamental agri- cultural creations. Without it, these cultures and civilizations could not have come into existence. It was ancient, tribal man of the primary group who created it."

[Brian Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read for Thanksgiving. John details the history of the tribes of North, and South America, and how they have been systematically pushed back and marginalized.

[J.D. Steens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This (New American Library, 1947 edition) is a good history of Indian life in the Americas before and after Columbus. The author, who was U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs under FDR, is a clear admirer of the native cultures. Collier writes that the twin tasks of any culture are to "shape" nature and human nature. The Indians managed both tasks well until the Spanish came to South and Central America and the pre- and post-colonial settlers pushed their way across the North American continent. The dominant white man culture destroyed this relationship with nature and, in the process, destroyed much of the native culture as well.

Although this is a familiar story to us today, it was likely a challenging theme when Collier wrote this book (1947). With much feeling and detail, he provides a negative perspective on "the crown and the church" in the Americas below the Rio Grande and on the role of greed and inhumanity in our own country's history. While Collier notes the role of epidemics, his view is that the Indian populations were decimated by the destruction of the native cultures, and by forced labor under extreme hardship conditions. In short, Indians above and below the Rio Grande were not regarded as people.

The last part of the book gives a detailed history of Collier's involvement under FDR to transform this country's policy towards its native residents.

[Cws]

AI 970

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

read in Bordeaux while preparing my thesis