The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 970.00497
EAN: 9780802136800
Edition: 1st Grove Press Ed
ISBN: 080213680X
Label: Grove Press
Manufacturer: Grove Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 466
Publication Date: March 03, 2000
Publisher: Grove Press
Studio: Grove Press
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Editorial Review:Amazon.com Review:Native Americans continue to hold a special place in the modern imagination. Images of the Native American as "noble savage," as grunting Hollywood brute, or even as nature lover reinforce what author James Wilson describes as "the principal role of Indians in US culture throughout the twentieth century: helping America imagine its own history." Wilson hopes to rescue them from this role and place Native Americans within their own context by attempting to view the Indian-European encounter through their eyes. The result is an engaging history of North America and its peoples--and a welcome addition to the already voluminous literature on the subject.
Wilson weaves Native American oral traditions and archeological, ethnographical, and historical evidence into a compelling narrative. Chapters on regional groups and their histories--from the Algonquians of the Northeast to the Zuñi of the Southwest--emphasize both their differences and their similarities. Wilson also traces the shifting relationships between Indians and non-Indians and investigates the reasons behind their misunderstandings. As Wilson points out, the image of the Native American as spiritual guide and Green Party spokesperson, while more romantic, is no more realistic than the image of the ignorant savage. Frequent excerpts from personal interviews allow Native Americans to speak for themselves and remind us that, far from ending at Wounded Knee, the Native American experience continues to evolve. Wilson's clear prose, command of the subject, and detailed suggestions for further reading make this book valuable to scholars and general readers alike.
--C.B. Delaney
Product Description:Now available in paperback,
The Earth Shall Weep is a groundbreaking, critically acclaimed history of the Native American peoples. Combining traditional historical sources with new insights from ethnography, archaeology, Indian oral tradition, and years of his original research, James Wilson weaves a historical narrative that puts Native Americans at the center of their struggle for survival against the tide of invading European peoples and cultures.
The Earth Shall Weep charts the collision course between Euro-Americans and the indigenous people of the continent, from the early interactions at English settlements on the Atlantic coast, through successive centuries of encroachment and outright warfare, to the new political force of the Native American activists of today. It is a clash that would ultimately result in the reduction of the Native American population from an estimated seven to ten million to 250,000 over a span of four hundred years, and change the face of the continent forever. A tour de force of narrative history,
The Earth Shall Weep is a powerful, moving telling of the story of Native Americans that has become the new standard for future work in the field.
Average Rating:
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I ordered this book for a research paper on western expansion and Native American culture. I was not able to read it from cover to cover, but was able to extract a lot of useful data, facts, and stories, and the author helped me feel what it must have been like to be overtaken by the new settlers. The maps were very helpful as well. It was very interesting and I will probably sit and read it all the way through when school is out.
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This is an excellent beginning for people who are interested in finding out what happened to the American Indian in the United States. It deals with many of the issues that have plagued the Indian people over the years and depicts how ruthless the so-called civilized society was in redirecting their good will into theft, carnage and disenfranchisement. An Indian friend says "when you have farmers, merchants and thieves you have what we call civilization". I think he's right.
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Native Americans did suffer tremendous injustices at the hands of EuroAmericans - no student of history could deny that. Mr. Wilson, however, makes his case by continually trivializing any hint of violence or savagery on the part of Indian raiders in order to paint his simplified portrait of white/Native relations. There are two sides to any story, and while the Native side was woefully slighted in the nineteenth and early 20th century histories, the solution is not to whitewash the story in the other direction. Mr. Wilson frequently makes sweeping assertions (claiming that Pequot warriors never tortured prisoners or even killed when it was unnecessary) without the slightest citation to back up his refutation of documented facts.
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It's not the earth shall weep, it's everyone who should weep for the awful treatment of Native Americans by Euro American colonists. After the prologue, which read like an academic paper that almost sent me to sleep, the remaining book was very engaging.
The book explained in horrific detail what happened to the tribes of each region. While brilliantly written, with every turn of the page, I kept hoping the story would get better, but it never did; Native Americans were often massacred without provocation, were lied to and betrayed multiple times by colonists and the American government, and had their land taken from them.
I felt despair and sadness for them just reading their history, I hate to imagine how the Native Americans, who survived, must have felt as all these injustices were being committed against them.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the relationship between Native Americans and colonists.
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For anyone considering buying this book--save your money; for anyone considering reading this book--don't waste your time. If you have ever met a Cherokee in your life, a real Cherokee, not merely someone who lives on the rez or is eligible for government handouts, but I mean if you have ever met a real Cherokee then you will know that if you read this book you will not be reading about Cherokee people. Instead you will read information that was published to toy with your mind, it was published out of an attempt to fool you and lead you away from the truth.
*The Cherokee are truly fascinating people, beautiful, intelligent, and wise, in fact they are very special.
Copyright ©2003, Mark Carey.
