Hoxie et al. (eds.), "American Nations"

[David D. Robertson]

Hoxie, Frederick E., Peter C. Mancall, and James H. Merrell
(eds.)  "American Nations:  Encounters in Indian Country, 1850 to the
Present."  New York:  Routledge, 2001.

Good bunch of essays in this book, including one co-authored by CHINOOK
list member Coll-Peter Thrush of the U. of Washington, "'I See What I Have
Done':  The Life and Murder Trial of Xwelas, a S'Klallam Woman" (with
Robert H. Keller, Jr.), a look at contact dynamics in the period of first
non-Indian settlement of Puget Sound.

For my own use, I also found Sergei Kan's essay very absorbing:  "Shamanism
and Christianity:  Modern Tlingit Elders Look at the Past".  Another paper
that methodically investigates a chapter of Northwest history is "Jim Crow
in Alaska:  The Passage of the Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945."  Both of
these are studies of cultural contact as seen with a lens less narrow than
that of linguistics.

Some of the big names you'll also find here are Vine Deloria, Jr.
("Research, Redskins, and Reality"), and Ward Churchill with an article
on "The Bloody Wake of Alcatraz:  Political Repression of the American
Indian Movement in the 1970's" -- constructed of typically hard-hitting
charges against the powers that be.

The contributors range from journalists to Native activists to academics,
and their contributions are generally based on solid knowledge and insight
into how Native-nonNative relations came to where they now are.

Over 519 pages, with something to fascinate almost anyone on our list.

-- Dave