The Indians in American Society
From the Revolutionary War to the Present
Format:Paperback
Publisher:University of California Press
Published:1st Jul '92
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
American Indian affairs are much in the public mind today - hotly contested debates over such issues as Indian fishing rights, land claims, and reservation gambling hold our attention. While the unique legal status of American Indians rests on the historical treaty relationship between Indian tribes and the federal government, until now there has been no comprehensive history of these treaties and their role in American life. Francis Paul Prucha, a leading authority on the history of American Indian affairs, argues that the treaties were a political anomaly from the very beginning.The term "treaty" implies a contract between sovereign independent nations, yet Indians were always in a position of inequality and dependence as negotiators, a fact that complicates their current attempts to regain their rights and tribal sovereignty. Prucha's impeccably researched book, based on a close analysis of every treaty, makes possible a thorough understanding of a legal dilemma whose legacy is so palpably felt today.
"Prucha . . . has tried to write a dispassionate history, and in these four succinct and readable essays he succeeds in a way that partisans cannot." * New York Times *
"A most significant book. If the role of the historian is to deduce patterns and derive meaning by judicious and objective analysis, this volume constitutes a tour de force. No student of American Indian, American western, or American history should fail to examine it." * Western Historical Quarterly *
"This small book is full of insights. . . . Prucha's view of the steady persistence of white paternalism and Indian dependency casts the historical complexities and ambiguities of federal Indian policy in a new light that seeks to avoid swampy polemics and preachy judgments. His book lets us better understand why the place of the Indian in American society raises questions that still confound us." * New England Quarterly *
"An excellent overview of U.S. Indian policy. Fr. Prucha makes a strong case for tribal self-sufficiency." * Christian Science Monitor *
"A useful, stimulating synthesis of a mature scholar's interpretations of two centuries of American Indian Policy. . . . which the educated public and American historians will appreciate." * American Indian Quarterly *
ISBN: 9780520063440
Dimensions: 203mm x 127mm x 10mm
Weight: 136g
144 pages