Debating Democracy: Native American Legacy of Freedom

by Bruce Elliott Johansen

Suggsts the Iroquois influence on our government has not been acknowledged

Genres: History, Native Americans

221 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

Reviews

[Wesley F · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a mistake on my part. I wanted to read about the influence of the Iroquois Confederacy on the United States founding. The book is not about that, at least the first half isn't. I wouldn't know about the second part. I didn't finish it. I read 30 pages and skimmed another 50 to see if the author ever got to the actual evidence of his thesis. I don't think he ever does.

The book starts off horribly with a foreword essentially declaring the author and his supporters as martyrs to truth. Their self-righteous, petty attempt at playing the victim is pathetic. The blasting of their opponents starts soon after that. From this start, the author lost considerable credibility with me. They claim the academic community has been unfair and downright nasty to them. It seems they are no better. The author is just as nasty toward them.

After the bad start, the attack on mainstream academia continues in the first two chapters. Johansen tells of his struggles and the others who support his position. The problem is he never explains why I should care. In fact, the talk of ideas is entirely absent from the first third of this book.

It is a huge literary example of passive-aggressiveness. It has soft language but under the surface it is very nasty. It is a hatchet job against political correctness, conservatives, liberals, scholars, journalists, and pundits. Unpleasant.

I didn't want to read a book about hate. I didn't want a play-by-play of a petty argument between professors and researchers. I wanted to learn about the Iroquois.

I should've read the summary more closely.

[Menser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great retelling of the story of how a group of academics came to revisit the idea that the Iroquois and specifically the political organization of the Five Nations confederacy came to influence early US revolutionary political though especially by way of Ben Franklin. The book is about how the research projects came about and then about the reception to the view which came to be called the "influence theory." Engrossing at times but way too long and repetitive unless yr really into the history of the reception of the view (not much on the Iroquois or American history).

[Susanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was not what I expected. I thought it was a book about the great law of peace but it is actually the story of authors and their fight to make others understand about the influence of the great law of peace on the United States.
Even though it was different than I expected I still enjoyed it and the footnotes give a lot of suggestions for additional reading.