Sunday, March 27, 2005
96-word Erudite Redneck book reviewlet -- "Demanding the Cherokee Nation," by Andrew Denson
Excerpts from a review I just finished for the state historical quarterly. Excellent work. It's an example of what I consider the proper use of historical persuasive writing.
--ER
DEMANDING THE CHEROKEE NATION: INDIAN AUTONOMY AND AMERICAN CULTURE, 1830-1900. By Andrew Denson (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. Pp. 327. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $55 cloth).
... takes Indians at their word, adding much to the short historiography of native intellectual history. ... Argument: Elite Cherokees, through memorials, pamphlets, the Cherokee Advocate and other documents, consistently demanded nationhood even as their weak relationship with Americans roiled.
... Missing is an appendix of some writings to let the Cherokees speak fully for themselves, probably the publisher’s call, not the author’s. ...
... philosophical history ... illumines dreams, for which these kinds of writings are most useful, not “facts,” for which they are not. ... as intellectual history, is cohesive because it follows a main idea – the Cherokees’, not the author’s.
END
--ER
DEMANDING THE CHEROKEE NATION: INDIAN AUTONOMY AND AMERICAN CULTURE, 1830-1900. By Andrew Denson (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. Pp. 327. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $55 cloth).
... takes Indians at their word, adding much to the short historiography of native intellectual history. ... Argument: Elite Cherokees, through memorials, pamphlets, the Cherokee Advocate and other documents, consistently demanded nationhood even as their weak relationship with Americans roiled.
... Missing is an appendix of some writings to let the Cherokees speak fully for themselves, probably the publisher’s call, not the author’s. ...
... philosophical history ... illumines dreams, for which these kinds of writings are most useful, not “facts,” for which they are not. ... as intellectual history, is cohesive because it follows a main idea – the Cherokees’, not the author’s.
END
