American Indians in U.S. History (Civilization of the American Indian Series) - Hardcover

Nichols, Roger L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0806135573 ISBN 13: 9780806135571

Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr, 2003

Synopsis

This one-volume narrative history of American Indians in the United States traces the experiences of indigenous peoples from early colonial times to the present day, demonstrating how Indian existence has varied and changed throughout our nation's history. Although popular opinion and standard histories often depict tribal peoples as victims of U.S. aggression, that is only a part of their story. In American Indians in U.S. History, Roger L. Nichols focuses on the ideas, beliefs, and actions of American Indian individuals and tribes, showing them to be significant agents in their own history.

Designed as a brief survey for students and general readers, this volume addresses the histories of tribes throughout the entire United States. Offering readers insight into broad national historical patterns, it explores the wide variety of tribes and relates many fascinating stories of individual and tribal determination, resilience, and long-term success. Charting Indian history in roughly chronological chapters, Nichols presents the central issues tribal leaders faced during each era and demonstrates that, despite their frequently changing status, American Indians have maintained their cultures, identities, and many of their traditional lifeways. Far from "vanishing" or disappearing into the "melting pot," American Indians have struggled for sovereignty and are today a larger, stronger part of the U.S. population than they have been in several centuries.

About this title

About the Author

Roger L. Nichols is Professor of History at the University of Arizona and author of Indians in the United States and Canada: A Comparative History.

From Booklist

Nichols gracefully summarizes the last 2,000 years of American Indian life in fewer than 300 pages by concentrating on Indian-European encounters. He begins, however, with ancient migration to the Americas, current knowledge of which is based on material and human remains, though some of those are objects of controversy over whether they are the remains of present-day Indians' ancestors. The native time line becomes denser when whites appear, for these interlopers' impact was soon felt by all but the remotest indigenes, thanks to the epidemics, storied violence and arrogance, and often-destructive livestock settlers brought with them. Many Indians tried to trade peaceably, but too often they were seen as a resource to be exploited. Stereotyped by colonists as bloodthirsty savages and by others more recently as peace-loving environmentalists, Indians were much more complex, possessed of hundreds of social groups, languages, religious beliefs, and lifestyles. Nichols neatly covers major events, from King Philip's War to the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation to the explosive phenomenon of native-owned casinos, and the accompanying evolution of governmental and popular attitudes. Roberta Johnson
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About this edition

• Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0806135573
• ISBN 13: 9780806135571
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288