North American Indians: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #243

by Theda Perdue, Michael D. Green

When Europeans first arrived in North America, between five and eight million indigenous people were already living there. But how did they come to be here? What were their agricultural, spiritual, and hunting practices? How did their societies evolve and what challenges do they face today?
Eminent historians Theda Perdue and Michael Green begin by describing how nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers followed the bison and woolly mammoth over the Bering land mass between Asia and what is now Alaska between 25,000 and 15,000 years ago, settling throughout North America. They describe hunting practices among different tribes, how some made the gradual transition to more settled, agricultural ways of life, the role of kinship and cooperation in Native societies, their varied burial rites and spiritual practices, and many other features of Native American life. Throughout the book, Perdue and Green stress the great diversity of indigenous peoples in America, who spoke more than 400 different languages before the arrival of Europeans and whose ways of life varied according to the environments they settled in and adapted to so successfully. Most importantly, the authors stress how Native Americans have struggled to maintain their sovereignty--first with European powers and
then with the United States--in order to retain their lands, govern themselves, support their people, and pursue practices that have made their lives meaningful.
Going beyond the stereotypes that so often distort our views of Native Americans, this Very Short Introduction offers a historically accurate, deeply engaging, and often inspiring account of the wide array of Native peoples in America.

About the Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Native American, Audiobook, Native Americans, American History, Anthropology

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 10, 2010

Reviews

[robin friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

American Indians In The Very Short Introductions Series

The books in the Oxford University Press' "Very Short Introductions" series are valuable to readers seeking an introduction to a subject new to them and to readers with a strong background in a subject seeking an informed, brief overview. In reading this particular very short introduction to "North American Indians" (2010), I fall on the latter side of the spectrum. I spent a good part of my life as an attorney in the area of Federal Indian Law. This book brought me back to the subject, after an absence of several years, and allowed me to reflect without the pressure of a deadline or of a complicated issue to be addressed.

Thelma Perdue and Michael Green wrote this "Very Short Introduction", and both have long backgrounds in studying American Indians. Perdue is Atlanta Distinguished Professor of Southern Culture at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill while Green is Professor Emeritus of American Studies and History at the same university. Perdue and Green have collaborated on earlier books about the Cherokee Nation as well as writing books individually.

With an engaging modesty, the authors point out that "[t]his little book is part of a series that opens the door to a particular topic. Like the others in the series it is far from comprehensive." The book addresses a controversial subject that extends over a lengthy period of time and place and that addresses many individual groups under the cover of the generic term "Indian". As of the writing of the book, the Federal government recognized 564 Indian tribes, in addition to other groups which are not Federally acknowledged. A "very short history" must move quickly over the material, both with fact and understanding.

The book presents its subject succinctly and well. The writing is clear, informed, and to the point. The authors offer their perspective on a frequently tragic history but do not polemicize. The present Indians as actors in their own destinies rather than as passive victims. The authors describe and support current trends in Indian policy under which, as they conclude, "Indian people speak for themselves".

The larger portion of the book is historical and chronological. Perdue and Green begin with the early history of Indian peoples beginning in pre-historic times and extending to the period before European contact. They proceed to discuss Indian relationships with the Spanish, French, and English in pre-revolutionary war days. This history presaged much subsequent history as the Indians worked resourcefully to hold their own and to play the Europeans off against each other. Divisions in Indian leadership plagued the tribes as did, much more importantly, the spread of contagious diseases. Indians had not developed immunities to these diseases and were decimated in shocking numbers.

The book describes Indian policy in the east United States, with some emphasis on events surrounding the War of 1812. A good deal of attention is given to the removal west of the southeastern tribes in the 1830s and to other lesser-known instances of forced relocations. The discussion of the east moves to the west with a treatment of the Great Plains, the decimation of the buffalo, Custer, the reservation system and more. Perdue and Green discuss the vacillation in Indian policy that came to the forefront with the end of treaty-making in 1871. The United States sought to allot the reservations into individual ownership and established schools and other facilities to assimilate Indians into the mainstream of American life, with some limited success and many tragic failures and mistakes.

The latter parts of the book address continued policy shifts, and the varied Indian responses, during the 20th Century. Policies shifted from assimilationist to those which sought to emphasize tribal sovereignty and independence, within the Federal scheme. The book covers the background of the modern policy of tribal self-determination and its accompaniments, including tribal contracting for the provision of services, tribal education, tribal efforts to control mineral and resource development on the reservation, tribal business, the acknowledgement process, tribal gaming activities and more. A great deal of material is offered in a necessarily quick way.

The final chapter of the book explores Indian contributions to American culture in areas such as literature, art, dance, film, the preservation of cultural and historical artifacts, journalism, and more. This discussion offered a good deal that was new and fascinating.

Perdue and Green offer an excellent very short introduction to American Indians and their history. The book will probably be of most value to new readers but those with background will learn as well. I enjoyed the opportunity to explore Indians and the United States again in a reflective, thoughtful way free from the pressure of the work place.

Robin Friedman

[Darwin8u · Rating 4 out of 5]

VSI 243. A great survey of the native people of North America. While not native, I live in AZ and adore the unique perspective of native writers and stories. The authors of this book Theda Perdue and Michael D Green (both professors of history at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), while not Native themselves, do a good job of surveying the history and diversity of the native people of North America. Their survey doesn't have enough room to explore very deep on any one topic, but they incorporate a lot in a short book.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good introduction to the history of Native Americans in North America (primarly the US, but also Canada and Mexico). It is quite well done. It isn't so much of a cultural history - there are too many tribes for that - but a general history in terms of the area. There are brief general overviews, highlighting tribe types and power structures. I found the passages about language to be very interesting. I did not know, for instance, that Rosetta Stone is working with tribes to perseve language and to help with learning.

[Peter Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

North American Indians (A Very Short Introduction)

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After I read "How the Indians Lost Their Land," I became interested in the range of Indian tribes and languages and their migration patterns during the European settlement of North America. I was interested in phenomena like the Sioux going from being a woodland tribe in Minnesota to a horse warrior culture. The period must have involved epic migrations like that of the Germans into Europe or the Mongol subject people into surrounding territories, kicking off a domino effect of subsequent migrations. Why would we think it wouldn't be this way in North America?

Yet, I've never read anything on the subject.

This book provided me with some of the information I was looking for. The Very Short Introduction series provide what they promise. A broad overview in a short number of pages. There was a lot in this book that I was not interested in, such as Native American literature, but, clearly, that might be fodder for another day. I also did not like the standard leftwing moralizing about history.

The funny thing, though, is that for all the moralizing, this book offers data that could allow for a multi-dimensional view of history in the description of Indian genocide and conquest committed against other Indians.

"Probably, this “law of blood” rarely applied within the community—the people did not kill one another. But it was central to foreign relations because foreigners were outside the kinship system, uncontrollable and potentially dangerous. This meant that the normal relationship with foreign groups was war.

Perdue, Theda; Michael D. Green. North American Indians: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (p. 13). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

The Westos were the most important early suppliers of captives. Refugee Eries who fled south from the Great Lakes to escape Iroquois armies, they established relations with Virginians and pioneered a trade that persisted in the South until the early eighteenth century. Although the Westos accepted a range of goods in exchange for captive Indians, they were most eager to receive guns. Having been victimized by gun-toting Iroquois warriors, they fully understood the military advantage guns provided. Well-armed Westos spread terror and death as they rounded up victims for their Virginia partners.

Perdue, Theda; Michael D. Green. North American Indians: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (p. 32). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

mills. Cherokees also owned more than 1,200 African American slaves. Cherokees did not share equally in this wealth. For that reason, their council passed laws protecting the private property that civilization had taught them to acquire and value.

Perdue, Theda; Michael D. Green. North American Indians: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (p. 52). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

Interaction rested on the realization that Pueblo people and Spanish colonists needed each other in defense against horse-mounted enemy Indians. Horses had spread from the Apaches to the Utes in Colorado and then to the Comanches, who had come on foot from the Great Basin through the mountains and onto the buffalo plains during the seventeenth century. Their large numbers and a flexible and efficient political system enabled the Comanches quickly to dominate the southern plains. Despite various efforts to negotiate with the Comanches, not until 1786 did Spanish officials manage to conclude a peace with them. By this time, thoughts of renewed hostility between Spanish settlers and the Pueblo people were long forgotten.

Perdue, Theda; Michael D. Green. North American Indians: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (p. 62). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

The astonishing thing about this story of the diffusion of horses throughout the plains is that it unfolded in no more than fifty years. Horses had entered a well-established exchange network that their presence expanded.

Perdue, Theda; Michael D. Green. North American Indians: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (p. 63). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

But the Chippewa, armed with guns by their French trade partners, worked to expel the Sioux from their beaver grounds. The Sioux gradually gave way, pulling back to the west in search of new beaver streams and out of the way of the Chippewa. The Tetons, the westernmost tribe of the Sioux, led the way and ultimately reached the prairie country east of the Missouri River. There they found buffalo.

Perdue, Theda; Michael D. Green. North American Indians: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (p. 66). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

Tribes raided each other for horses, necessary because many horses died during the winter and Indians without horses could not hunt. Tribes also invaded the countries claimed by their neighbors and tried, sometimes successfully, to displace them. No group was better at this than the Teton Sioux. Their numbers constantly replenished with relatives from the East, they took advantage of the near eradication of the Arikaras to burst across the Missouri River and fan out into the country north of the Platte River. Some groups, such as the vastly outnumbered Cheyennes, concluded an alliance with the Tetons. Some, such as the Crows, retreated. Others, like the Pawnees south of the Platte in Nebraska, remained close to home.

Perdue, Theda; Michael D. Green. North American Indians: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (pp. 68-69). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

plains. While it is true that after the U.S. Civil War professional non-Indian hide hunters killed the buffalo to near extinction, at the pace they were going Indian hide-hunters likely would have done the same. It would simply have taken them longer to do it.

Perdue, Theda; Michael D. Green. North American Indians: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (p. 71). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

These points are not the theme of the book. For the most part, this information is buried. Someone reading this from the standpoint of white guilt would not notice that North American Indians were not peaceful people rolled by the Europeans. They were warlike people who would have gleefully done unto the Europeans what was done to them. The tragedy of North American Indians was that there was a cultural conflict with the Indians being entirely outclassed in technological and social capital. When that kind of conflict develops the weaker will be exterminated or transformed.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I find myself frequently reading about the indigenous people of North America lately, so this little book caught my eye as I was shelf-reading and gathering up a cache of books for myself during the last week my library was open -- after we had closed the doors to patrons due to coronavirus concerns but before restrictions sent us staff people home too. (I ended up taking home 50 books, supplementing the 75 I had already checked out from this and another library. I'm ready for the long haul!)

This is a serviceable if dry survey of the history of Native Americans in the United States. And yes, despite the title citing North America, anything that happened in Mexico and Canada is basically omitted unless it occurred within 100 miles of the present day U.S. border. I did learn stuff and now have a better sense of time and place than I previously had, but despite the book being only 140 pages, it took me seven days to listlessly work my way through it.

I thought the most interesting part was the last sentence: "At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Indian people speak for themselves." I found it super ironic since this book was written by a married white couple. Hrm.

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a very short introduction to North American Indians. The title's a bit strange though, considering the book rejects the use of the term 'Indians'. Additionally, it should really be 'American' rather than 'North American' as the book only mentions indigenous politics, history or culture outside the US once or twice. Interesting read though.

[Allison ☾ · Rating 5 out of 5]

People with more critical knowledge of the subject are hard on these books. But I think they’re great. Walking in with no knowledge, you leave with some base information. If you really care about the subject you will seek out more literature.

[Martijn]

I was hoping to read a book on North American Indians themselves, rather than have them defined by what was done to them. The introduction promised that, the book didn't deliver that at all (and also really only talks about the US). I am glad I also read Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's Native American History of the United States, which covers the same subject, but in a more honest way.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was--as I'm finding is often the case with this series--a concise, accessible and thorough introduction to a big topic. I knew nearly nothing about the native peoples of North America going in, so this was all thoroughly fascinating, giving me enough context to make sense of things, but also giving lots of fascinating detail and comparison. I never did find any real clarity over the authors' choice to use the titular term for the peoples under discussion, nor did they discuss alternatives, and I remain perplexed about that. But I particularly liked the book's final declaration: that the native peoples speak for themselves now. (So go listen.)

[Samuele Baggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first 5 of offical non-fiction books I have read, this has to be the most powerful I have read. The story of the Native Nations in North America vibrate on such a level that you cannot comprehend unless you dive head first into their culture and history. I wept at the finishing if this.

I feel like, the author did a great job in speaking of their history and the section mentioning native fiction and authors is something I will delve into when I get the chance. This book is not only informative but it's lyrical and comes across as a song.

let's hope we've all learned something here.

[Richard Subber · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re not familiar with the “A Very Short Introduction” series by Oxford University Press, pick up one of them and give yourself a treat.
There are almost 300 of them—gotta be something you like in that bunch. I’m working my way through them.
North American Indians by Perdue and Green is a serious summary of the lives and legacies of the millions of indigenous peoples who maintained thriving advanced cultures on the North American continent before the European invaders arrived in the late 15th century.
I think this is a fair assessment: none of the native Americans were savages.
The Indians had advanced, sustainable kinship cultures, an intricate, gratifying, and non-exclusionary spirituality, and a deliberate, informed, and symbiotic relationship with the plants and animals who shared their living space. One could argue that the Europeans who arrived, unbidden, in the very old “New World,” couldn’t claim any superiority on those points.
Perdue and Green doggedly follow the fortunes and misfortunes of American Indians up to the present time. What I learned most importantly from North American Indians is that I know little of the current politics and economics of Indian life and rights associated with the reservations that still exist. The authors do not attempt to make any particular case for current Indian rights. They do make it plain that it’s a very complicated matter to understand and consider public policy regarding the status, rights, and needs of contemporary Americans who think of themselves as Indians.
The early Spanish, French, and English colonists destroyed the lifestyle of the Indians whose lands they grabbed. The invaders created a persisting tragedy which we aren’t doing much to resolve today.
Read more of my book reviews and poems at
http://richardsubber.com/

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good introduction to a very important topic. Sometimes the books in this series can be super dull or hard to get through, but this was a solid addition to the series.

[Jessica Weida · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is what schools should teach across America, to show all the horrible things that were done to the native population in the name of "civilization" and Christianity.

[Christopher Iacovetti]

'If all other things were equal, the British could usually beat the French in a trade competition for Indian consumers. British goods tended to be higher quality, lower priced, and greater in variety and quantity. The French strength was in the quality of their diplomacy. French traders, politicians, and officers more likely learned Native languages, respected tribal ceremonies, generously gave gifts, and behaved politely. Most important, few French colonists encroached on Indian lands. These contrasting qualities sometimes made choices very difficult for tribal politicians. Although all agreed on long-term policy goals, Native leaders often disagreed on how to achieve them. One of the attractions of the play-off was that a tribe did not have to make a choice' (37)

'Even as Pontiac's Rebellion [1763] got under way the British government prepared to announce its plan to govern its newly won territory in America. Believing that the easiest and cheapest way to keep the peace was to accede to tribal demands for trade, autonomy, and territory, its Proclamation of 1763 drew a boundary line between the colonies and Indian country, prohibited settlement west of the Appalachians, and established a royal bureaucracy to regulate trade. The Proclamation of 1763 put the colonies on the road to revolution and independence. Royal efforts to implement the proclamation satisfied no one. Colonists resented royal interference in their affairs, and the Indians resented the failure of the government to fulfill its obligations' (38)

'The American victory in the Revolution changed everything for the Indian nations east of the Mississippi. With the English expelled, Indians lost the power they had commanded through play-off diplomacy' (39-40)

'The United States also operating trading posts [in the South] that sold the tools and accouterments of civilization and permitted the Indians to run up accounts so large that they could only be paid with land cessions' (45)

'Among the Cherokees, the struggle to remain in their homeland inspired a nationalism that thwarted efforts by the United States to obtain land. Cherokee cessions negotiated in 1805 and 1806 awarded substantial payments to the Cherokee headmen who signed the treaties. When other Cherokees discovered this duplicity, they repudiated the actions and assassinated Doublehead, a chief beneficiary. ... They temporarily deposed their chief, Black Fox, whose sympathies lay with the pro-removal faction, and moved to unify their nation in opposition to an exchange of land that would force them to the West. In the end, they retained their homeland in the East and excluded from citizenship the 2,000 who chose to move beyond the Mississippi' (48)

'Problematic negotiations with southern Indians contributed to the federal government's disenchantment with treaty making. Knox had seen the treaties, rooted in international law, as enabling the new nation to expand with honor, but now it seemed too cumbersome as tribes became more adamant about retaining their land. When Congress refused to repudiate the practice, treaty negotiators subverted it through unscrupulous tactics. The vast majority of citizens in all the southern tribes opposed land cession, but self-serving individuals allowed the federal government to continue its acquisition of Indian land. In 1825, for example, the Creek national council rejected a proposed cession, but U.S. commissioners bribed William McIntosh, an influential chief, to sign an agreement that surrendered all Creek land in Georgia and two-thirds of what remained in Alabama. The national council invoked Creek Law and authorized the execution of McIntosh and other Creeks involved in the treaty negotiations. ... Fearful of an invasion by irate Georgians, however, the Creek council agreed to negotiate a new treaty, and in 1826 the Creeks exchanged the land in Georgia for a tract west of the Mississippi' (53)

'Only in the 1820s did politicians begin to discuss seriously the forcible expulsion of eastern Indians. The pressure for removal had several sources. First of all, the population of the United States grew rapidly. ... Second, electoral reforms gave virtually all white adult men the right to vote. ... Politicians seized upon Indian removal as an issue that garnered votes, especially in Georgia, which felt particularly aggrieved over the failure of the United States to terminate Indian title as it had promised in 1802 in exchange for the state's western lands, now Alabama and Mississippi. And finally, attitudes toward Indians had changed. The Enlightenment views that had given rise to the civilization movement gave way to romantic nationalism, a belief that each "nation" has inherent attributes that cannot be changed. In the eyes of most Americans, this meant that education and opportunity would never change the Indians' savage character: once an Indian, always an Indian' (54)

'Between 1830 and 1832 the United States negotiated treaties with the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles, which were intended to rid the East of them. These negotiations provide examples of the tactics the government used to obtain Indian land under the guise of law. The Choctaw council assembled to consider a removal treaty in 1830 ... and refused to agree to cede the nation's lands in Mississippi, and only post-adjournment negotiations with a rump council produced a treaty. Despite the fact that the treaty was not representative, Congress ratified it. The Chickasaws, whose nation lay just north of the Choctaws in Mississippi, signed a removal treaty in 1832 only to discover that there was no public land available west of the Mississippi on which they could locate' (55)

'The Cherokees decided to resist removal in the courts. Considered by non-Indians as the most "civilized" tribe, the Cherokee Nation had savvy leaders who could not quite believe that the United States would remove their people, who had embraced the civilization program, fought with the United States in the Creek War, written a republican constitution, and become a literate people. Georgia, however, demanded removal of the Cherokees and set about making the lives of Cherokees so miserable that they would agree to move west. The Georgia legislature extended state law over the Cherokees, who, like other sovereign nations, had governed themselves. Georgia laws prohibited the Cherokee government from functioning, Cherokee people from testifying against Georgians in state courts, and missionaries from residing within the nation unless they took a loyalty oath to the state' (58-9)

'While it is true that the U.S. Civil War professional non-Indian hide hunters killed the buffalo to near extinction, at the pace they were going Indian hide-hunters would have done the same. It would simply have taken them longer to do it' (71)

'The United States threatened the peace established at Fort Laramie in 1874 when General Custer led a mixed expedition of army and civilians into the Black Hills to investigate rumors of gold within the boundaries of the Sioux reservation. When the miners in the company found gold and spread the news to the outside world, a gold rush ensued. The U.S. government refused to police the boundary of the reservation and to remove the miners who encroached on Sioux lands. Instead, federal officials approached Sioux leaders with offers to buy the Black Hills. Rebuffed, the government then ordered all Sioux bands, many of which had left the reservation to hunt, to assemble on the reservation by January 1, 1876, and declared those who refused hostile enemies of the United States. In the spring, troops began looking for the bands of "hostile" Sioux. One camp of Teton Sioux and Cheyennes under the leadership of Sitting Bull, estimated at ten thousand, was located on the banks of the Little Bighorn River in Montana. Late in June General Custer led his calvary to the camp, where the warriors under Crazy Horse, Hump, and Two Moon decisively defeated them. In reprisal the army scoured the country and forced most of the people still off the reservation to go there. Sitting Bull led a small number of followers to refuge in Canada, but starvation forced them to surrender in 1881. The irony of all this bloodshed was that it occurred during the period of the Peace Policy of President Ulysses S. Grant. In place from 1869 to roughly 1876, the policy's central idea was that the reservations would be administered by church groups. ... The Peace Policy, however, had a counterpoint: the policy was peaceful only for those tribes that followed orders, remained within the boundaries of their reservations, and enthusiastically embraced the regimen of culture change the missionaries/agents proclaimed' (77-8)

'Hunger followed many to their reservations where they depended on the government to distribute rations. But the rations were not dependable. Congressional appropriations were inconsistent, dishonest agents stole and sold the food, and sometimes officials withheld available rations to control the Indians. Agents at the Sioux reservations in South Dakota reduced the rations in 1889, and the people were in danger of starvation. Hope existed, however, in the form of prophecy. Wovoka, a Paiute holy man from Nevada, had dreamed a ceremony, the Ghost Dance, which induced visions in which participants reunited with dead relatives, the buffalo returned, and non-Indians disappeared. The Ghost Dance swept through Sioux reservations in 1890, large numbers of people danced, and neighboring non-Indians were terrified. The panicked agent at Pine Ridge called in the army. The chiefs at Pine Ridge, fearful that something terrible might happen, called into the agency people who were dancing. One band of about 350 led by Big Foot camped at Wounded Knee Creek on their way to Pine Ridge when the soldiers found them. On the morning of December 29, during a search of the Indians for weapons, someone fired a shot. This led to a barrage of fire from the army's cannon, and as many as three hundred of the Indians were killed. The massacre at Wounded Knee ended the brief but spectacular history of the horse-mounted, buffalo-hunting Indians of the plains' (79)

'The propriety of negotiating treaties with Indians had been the subject of debate since the 1820s when Andrew Jackson railed against the practice. In 1871 Congress acted to end it. The terms of existing treaties remained in effect unless Congress specifically repealed or modified them, but after 1871 the United States would make no further treaties with Indian tribes. Henceforth, Congress enacted legislation managing Indian affairs, and Indians no longer had an equal voice in the process' (89)

'Between 1887 and 1934, 118 of 213 reservations were allotted; 82 percent of the land allotted lay in Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. For these people, allotment was a social and economic disaster. Indian landholding in the United States declined from approximately 138 million to 48 million acres. ... Generally, the land Indians retained was far less desirable than that lost. Many people could not make a living from their allotments and ended up leasing their land ... The closing of reservation schools placed Indian children in non-Indian schools where they were not welcomed, and a lack of education further restricted opportunity. Growing poverty precipitated a decline in health, and the rates of communicable diseases like tuberculosis soared. By the 1920s, calls for reform were mounting. Among the voices decrying the plight of Native people was the Society of American Indians. ... In 1924 Congress acceded to one of their demands and extended U.S. citizenship to all Indians. Two years later, the Interior Department commissioned ... [the] Meriam Report ... [which] scrupulously documented the poverty of American Indians and placed the blame squarely on allotment. The stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression precluded any immediate action; formal abandonment of the policy came with the New Deal' (92-3)

'World War II was in many ways an even more profound revolution [than the New Deal] for Indians. ... Nearly fifty thousand more Indian men and women left their reservations to work in war-related industries. Many remained close to home on farms and ranches, but many more went to distant cities, worked in factories, lived in apartments, made decisions, and enjoyed such luxuries as electric lighting and indoor plumbing. Living as responsible adults and treated as such, they survived without the paternalistic supervision that characterized their lives on their reservations. After the war, some stayed in the cities if they could hold onto their jobs. Most returned home. But when they arrived they were not the same men and women who had left. They were self-confident, accomplished, and far less tolerant of government paternalism than they had been. ... Between 1940 and 1960 roughly 122,000 Indian people resettled in urban America ... Relocation as a policy did not survive the 1960s, but the migration to urban areas by Native people continued unabated. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, more than two-thirds of American Indians live in cities rather than on reservations' (98-9)

'The American Indian Movement (AIM) learned from NIYC. Formed in Minneapolis in 1968 as a neighborhood watch against police harassment, AIM grew into an activist urban cultural and political organization, which mastered the art of confrontational politics and manipulation of the news media. Russell Means, an Oglala Sioux whose family's roots were in the Pine Ridge reservation of South Dakota, became a staple on the nightly news. ... Means led occupations of Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower replica in Massachusetts, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, and the BIA headquarters in Washington. In 1973 he was part of the group that for seventy-three days held out against a full array of government force at Wounded Knee. Different in detail, AIM, NIYC, and NCAI agreed on basic principles, chief of which was tribal sovereignty. The Self-Determination Act of 1975, which recognized that principle, came in the wake of many years of activism. The [Act] provided for a contracting system that tribes found immediately useful. To fulfill its trust obligation, the BIA administered specific services, among which were schools, resource management, housing, policing, and road construction and maintenance. The BIA budgeted a sum for each service for each reservation. The [Act] enabled a tribe to contract with the BIA to administer a specific service itself' (104-5)

'There are at least 324 unacknowledged Indian communities in the United States. They are scattered throughout the country, but many are concentrated in the East where they had been surrounded and marginalized by non-Indian settlements long before the establishment of constitutional government in 1789. Many of them seek acknowledgment; some have for well over one hundred years. In 1978 the BIA developed a procedure to study their applications and, if approved, to extend acknowledgment. The procedure, designed by people using the western reservation tribes as their model, is very difficult for unacknowledged groups to satisfy' (112-13)

Books to look up: Winnemucca's memoir Life Among the Piutes (1883), Mary Brave Bird's memoir Lakota Woman (1990), Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony novel (1977)

[Stephen Wong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of Theda Perdue's North American Indians:

It is a duty, and it isn't a terrible one, for any North American (Canadian, American, or Mexican) settler, immigrant or passing through, to learn and know and understand the history of Indigenous peoples of this land or these lands.

The book makes of this particular duty and responsibility a universalisable one (a Kantian categorical imperative) and also one easier to embrace and fulfill in its small-sized tome succinctly indexing a subject matter universe infinitely larger but which has been almost forevermore given unto erasure by government genocidal policies and legislation, and societal paternalism and neglect.

The book structures a history commensurable with a sequence of contact westward with Indian tribes or nations. This sequence reveals modes of interaction and experimentation, tentativity of acceptance and co-sovereignties, up to a point where historical alliances start to fray and the relegation of powerful Indian tribes deepens as they are displaced by war (and the adventitious conflicts between the colonial British and French and Spanish and the independent US, conflicts which Indian tribes sometimes took advantage of but too certainly suffered) and disease (smallpox especially) and a drive to push the continental frontier and to "civilize" them.

In present times, these historical experiences are re-lived in various modes of struggle and affirmation of identity, which the authors could only hint at and guess toward because "red power" and "red rising" continue to manifest in unique ways. Identity is a critical site of experience because for the longest time the complex has been sheared, shorn, torn apart to a placeless or landless because stolen of ceremonies and knowledge.

There are some aspects of black slavery and indigenous slavery experience, separately and together, brought forward, and how the two interacted within the white economic and political structure foisted upon their populations. There are also aspects documented of flourishing on reservations exercised under treaty and favourable court rulings limiting the powers of the states, notably re gambling and casinos, tobacco taxes, and even Bingo.

The book's final chapter on cultural sovereignty is the most appealing for the albeit small sample of resurgences (and perhaps insurgencies) which key into a much wider vista of Indigenous activism and work. Not only kaleidoscopic but also telescopic in its view of a prophetic place and time where true and genuine sovereignty to include the economic, social, political and international, this breaching forward into a long epilogue of North America though much long overdue gives us in our present time the rarest of privileges of so living it here and now so that the many and all of us who take to this duty and imperative to know shall know also of that place and time and also work to remove the hindering furniture and help to support the sky.

The book does not at all deal with Hawaii and Alaska where government policies and legislation also apply, but in spite thereof the reader interested in a fuller view should not let such faux pas develop into a blind spot. However, the book overall hits at the large blind spot in any North American's understanding of this continent. If this book were an arrow ...

[Rebecca Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

My book of the week on Native Americans was one from the Very Short Introduction series from Oxford University Press: North American Indians by Theda Perue and Michael D. Green (August 2010). As is the case with all books in this series, the authors introduced the subject, touching on the history, the various perspectives, and their own take on matters, in less than 150 pages.

From my perspective, North American Indians was a wonderful introduction to American Indian issues. A chapter discussed the known and unknown facts of the Indians in North America before Columbus, and subsequent chapters discussed the subsequent downfall of the Natives as Europeans and then Americans dominated the land. It was fascinating to me to see how simple cultural differences led to the Europeans’ domination: in situations where Natives were simply treating people with respect, Europeans interpreted their acts as weakness. The last chapter talked about current cultural challenges faced by American Indians, as well as the recent cultural renaissance in literature and art.

Obviously, in 130 pages, no book can do more than only introduce such a complex issue. There is little discussion of various tribes and heritages, and even major events in history are glossed over. No more can be expected. I am also not familiar with either author, and I don’t know their relationship to the Native American communities today. I don’t know if there is bias in this book. From my perspective, it seemed well rounded and fair. Despite the brevity of the book, I found it to be a helpful one to help me better understand the Native American position in the world today.

I wish that the Europeans and then the Americans had not been so insensitive to those already living here and that the great number of complex cultures could have survived to teach us today. It would be incredible if we could better understand. As it is, we must recognize the tragedies of history.

Cross-posted on my blog

[S.R. Weems · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little too short, but it served its purpose.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

As in the title, native Americans are consistently called "Indians".

[M Pereira · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good VSI.

The beginning depicted a person who gave an off-hand comment to say that the Native American people are hard done by. By the end of the book you really can't not say that's the case. One of the things that reading this book has made me reflect on is how with so many different cultures within the spectrum of North America, I don't know anything about them. I hope I can find more to learn about the Native American people.

One of the real take homes of this book was the systemic colonial racism from the 19th century to the early 20th century and although not discussed in the book, present day. Systemic colonial violence might sound like a lot of buzzwords or a string of jargony things, but what it really points to are the things in this book: re-educating, forcing women to change their hairstyle to deny their heritage; skewing the education of young Native Americans so that they learn the dominant narrative of how the united states is a white country of colonial founders and did not have a history before Columbus arrived. I want to read more about the time before then, and from the voices of the people marginalised by the white colonists. That's not something in this book that you can get, but reading this VSI has motivated me.

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the handful of books in this series, "A Very Short Introduction," that I've read so far. They do a great job of relaying some interesting topical information and it's really just a fantastic way to jump around and broaden your understanding of a variety of topics.

This was no different. I liked how they were able to stay focused on the high level and take things from the earliest records we have through the present day and still touch on important legal issues and the day to day life of Native Americans today. Obviously, if you're looking for detailed information this book or any others in the series aren't something you should be spending time on.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up. The early chapters (about pre-1492 life) are better covered in the extremely good "1491" and the very last chapter mostly about art and literature seems more like ad copy, but the middle, about the deep and complicated dynamics between the various tribal nations and the growing United States (it's unfortunately a rather "lower 48" centric book, but I suppose you have to draw the line somewhere and it's still a lot of people to talk about), is very good as a Very Short Introduction.

[Dennis Seese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Third installment of my loose, informal survey of North American history through a bundle of VSI's purchased randomly at a book stall during the National Cathedral's Flowermart earlier this month.
Another well-done exercise in distilling a sprawling, complex history down into a concise yet substantitive compendium.
The writing is a little stiff and labored at times, but this volume filled in some important knowledge gaps so I'm grateful

[Zach Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oxford's "A Very Short Introduction" series is always wonderful, and this "North American Indians" is no exception.

I am baffled that anyone could make a history book so small, yet so rich in information. While not exhaustive, this book will lay all of the necessary foundations upon which you can build your knowledge.

[Kendall Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of the history of Indians in the United States. I appreciated how the book doesn't make Indians merely hapless victims but focuses on how they exercised agency even when given a raw deal. I thought it was somewhat odd that there was no mention of Indians in Canada considering the title.

[Steinn Steingrimsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A complex subject that is presented in a clear manner but a bit confusing that it is called North American Indians when it focuses only on present day USA. Of course there are other books on Aztecs and other Mexicans but it's unclear why others in Canada are not a part of the term North American.

[Tori · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the very short introduction series. Sometimes the short book gives me all of the information I need on a topic. This one served as a starting point for further research.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75

[Carlie Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good, quick informative book I read for school. Just the facts on how whites treated Native Americans, and how Native Americans rallied to keep their culture alive.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This small book is part of a long series of brief surveys or accounts of topics and ideas. It is only 130 pages of small-type text, but it speaks to the history of American Indians and their numerous tribes (nearly 600 and counting) from Clovis to the present day. It even manages to include a summary of a fair amount of contemporary Indian literature. It also includes a number of precise and intelligible maps provided by Rebecca Dobbs, a historical geographer. Unfortunely Maps 6 & 7 are reversed; No. 7, contrary to its off-map label, shows the diffusion of horses in the west, not Indian sites.

Diffusion of the horses is itself an interesting and ironic part of the history. The Pueblo Indians got possession of the Spanish horses in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, then traded them to nearby tribes, who traded them further. Very soon, horses were in the hands of tribe thoughout the vastness of west in this variation on six degrees of separation. Through these horses and through the guns supplied supplied by the French, the Indians gained a couple of great equalizers, but as we know, those equalizers were not enough to provide real equality or to prevent the progressive taking of Indian land.

A book this size could hardly be expected to provide evidence and analysis and it mostly does not do so. We read repeatedly that Indians were defrauded, but what the authors mean by fraud and how it was accomplished will mostly have to be found in other books entirely. The same is true with their statements made about what most Americans thought at some point in history or what Indians believed in some pre-historical period--you might like to know how such matters could be known but the answer isn't here. Still it piques your interest, at least mine, as a part-Cherokee who never knew his principal Cherokee ancestors or their culture.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of Native American history. Obviously, it is not very detailed, but it does give an overview from prior to European contact to the near-present day. It introduced many ideas I had not considered before and put the different eras of Washingtonian politics regarding the "Indian question" into a historical perspective. As someone who grew up in Oklahoma, I had more than cursory knowledge, but not the larger framework, including the importance of gambling and block grants to how the tribes currently function.

One of the better parts of the book was the reference to many works by Native Americans over the years. I plan to read a couple of these books later this year.