Black Hawk: An Autobiography [Paperback]

Blackhawk (Author), Black Hawk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2006

This important work is the autobiography of Black Hawk aka Black Sparrow Hawk aka Makataimeshekiakiak. Blackhawk was both a leader and warrior of the Sauk tribe of Native Americans in the United States. He served as a war chief for the Sauk indians and was known as Chief Black Hawk to the english. This is an important read for those interested in native american history especially since it is written by this important figure in native american history about his life and beliefs as well as an intimate firsthand account of the black hawk war.

Editorial Reviews

Review

 

"This new edition of a stirring autobiography is not only an American classic but is one of the relatively few accounts of American-Indian relations as they appeared to a leader of the Indians."--Americana

 

"Black Hawk is the only important Indian author from Illinois. . . . His life story . . . is now a classic of midwestern literature, a remarkable self-portrait by a complex individual who identified closely with the heritage of his tribe. At a time when [Native Americans] were being removed by government policy, it made the Indian perspective a part of the national consciousness. . . . The best edition of the 1833 text is by Donald Jackson."--John E. Hallwas, in Illinois Literature: The Nineteenth Century

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

 

Black Hawk is one of the thirty-five Illinois authors honored by having his name cast in stone in the Illinois State Library Building, which opened in 1990. The late Donald Jackson, author and editor of several important books in Western American history, was the editor in chief at the University of Illinois Press when this edition was first published in 1955.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Filiquarian Publishing, LLC. (November 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599869616
• ISBN-13: 978-1599869612
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #746,658 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #48 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Special Groups > Native American Studies

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Autobiography of Black Hawk, July 5, 2000

By 

Gary Reger - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Hawk: An Autobiography (Prairie State Books) (Paperback)

The last "Indian War" in Illinois occurred in 1832 when a small band of Sauk refused under the leadership of the warrior Black Hawk to abandon their village (located under a subdivision of the present Rock Island, Illinois). They wandered up the Rock River, fighting contingents of regular army and state militia (a young Abraham Lincoln served several stints as a volunteer but saw no fighting; a young Jefferson Davis played a role in the last phases of the conflict), slipped into Wisconsin, and were finally defeated in a brutal massacre of men, women, and children on the banks of the Mississippi. Black Hawk surrendered and was taken East to meet President Jackson. After a short term in confinement, he and his companions were taken on a tour of the East Coast, an effort by the United States government to impress him with the young nation's overwhelming superiority in numbers and technology. The plan worked, by Black Hawk's own testimony, and when he returned to the Midwest he lived out the rest of his life in obscurity in a village in Iowa. He never saw his home again.
The origins of the autobiography published under Black Hawk's name has generated controversy. It was dictated to a half Native American interpreter, Antoine Le Claire, who rendered it into English, then edited by an Illinois newspaperman named John B. Patterson, who put it into publishable form. Both men swore that the result was faithful to Black Hawk's words, but the skeptical reader may be permitted some doubt; the language is clearly that of the period (surely Patterson's work), and Black Hawk himself complains on at least one occasion that his interpreter's grasp of the Sauk language did not suffice to translate a flowery speech. So what we have here, while no doubt in general faithful to Black Hawk's intentions and life story, cannot be his ipsissima verba. (It is a pity, given these doubts, that the editor of the volume, who has otherwise done an admirable job of annotation and commentary, did not compare the language of the preface, which records Black Hawk's own Sauk, with that of the text as a whole.)
Despite these doubts, there can be no question that the Autobiography affords us an extraordinary opportunity to see the impact of midwestern expansion on the native population from their own point of view, and to obtain direct access -- even if it has been mediated somewhat for non-native consumption -- into the social world of a people soon to vanish. The war itself is somewhat of an anti-climax, and deeply sad, doomed as resistance clearly was from the beginning. It is rather the self-presentation of a proud, successful Sauk warrior, endowed with considerable facilities of self-reflection and honesty, that make this book a treasure that every American should read.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is a terrible edition, April 7, 2008

By 

Pro - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Hawk: An Autobiography (Paperback)

I teach college history. This is a great book, but this particular edition is awful, cheap, typo-ridden, terrible. Students complained. We will never use it again. Be sure you get a real edition from a real publisher. Uch.

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Book for Anyone, May 11, 2000

By 

Caroline Blanchard - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Hawk: An Autobiography (Prairie State Books) (Paperback)

As a college student from the blackhawk area, I found this book captivating. Really written for any age or education level, I think anyone and everyone should read it. A heroic story of a real man, the book is a beautiful journey through history. The story some details of Black Hawk's life before the war and describes the events behind the wars and his interpretation of them well. I would recomend this to anyone from junior high up and definatly anyone from Rock Island or the surrounding areas.