The Plains Sioux and U.S. Colonialism from Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee (Studies in North American Indian History) [Paperback]

Jeffrey Ostler (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521605903 | ISBN-13: 978-0521605908 | Publication Date: July 5, 2004

Through the interpretive lens of colonial theory, Jeffrey Ostler presents an original analysis of the tumultuous relationship between the Plains Sioux and the United States in the 1800s. He provides novel insights on well-known aspects of the Sioux story, such as the Oregon Trail, the deaths of "Crazy Horse" and "Sitting Bull", and the Ghost Dance, and offers an in-depth look at many lesser-known facets of Sioux history and culture. Paying close attention to Sioux perspectives of their history, the book demonstrates how the Sioux creatively responded to the challenges of U.S. expansion and domination, revealing simultaneously how U.S. power increasingly limited the autonomy of their communities as the century came to a close. Ostler's innovative analysis of the Plains Sioux culminates in a compelling reinterpretation of the events that led to the Wounded Knee massacre of December 29, 1890. History Department Head at the University of Oregon, Associate Professor Jeffrey Ostler has held honors such as the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship and has published articles in Western Historical Quarterly, Great Plains Quarterly, and Pacific Historical Review.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Ostler revisits Plains Sioux history and offers several convincing revisions of previous studies...Strongly recommended."
- Choice, G. Gagnon, University of North Dakota

"Without scrimping on close-up detail or native perspective, Ostler takes the most worked-over of American Indian historical sagas, the Sioux wars, and presents an absolutely riveting, utterly original and consistently persuasive narrative...With this book the bar has been raised for all historians of Indian-white relations."
- Peter Nabokov, UCLA

"Ostler brilliantly reveals the fissures, continuities, insufficiencies and power that characterize a century of colonial encounters. His powerfully narrated history offers crucial lessons for anyone considering the dynamics of colonial domination and resistance in Native North America-or elsewhere, for that matter."
- Philip J. Deloria, University of Michigan

"Superb Analysis...Ostler is exceptional in his skillful examination of primary sources--a dialogue fully presented within the text and footnotes. Incorporating a breadth of Lakota words and concepts, the author's overall contribution is a rich cultural study of the Lakota that will appeal to scholars and general readers alike...this study is now the gold standard on the Lakota Ghost Dance."
- History: Reviews of New Books

"Ostler's book provides a fascinating reexamination of major events in nineteenth-century Plains Sioux history."
- Great Plains Quarterly

"Jeffrey Ostler provides a new view of the Sioux nation and its people. It is an important addition to the extensive literature on the Sioux wars and United States Indian policy. Readers interested in the late nineteenth-century Indian wars and U.S. Indian policy will find this book insightful and thought-provoking."
- The Journal of Military History, Stacy W. Reaves, Tulsa Community College

"Jeffrey Ostler provides a new view of the Sioux nation and its people. It is an important addition to the extensive literature on the Sioux wars and United States Indian policy. Readers interested in the late nineteenth-century Indian wars and U.S. Indian policy will find this book insightful and thought-provoking."
Journal of Military History

"This volume is both remarkably informative and interpretively unsettling...Ostler's work is provocative, penetrating, and at times perplexing, but it offers the reader much detailed material unearthed from archives by a diligent historian...The author is to be commended for his attention to genealogies, his accurate translations of applicable texts, and his use of a network of consultants who have taught him much about cultural matters...Ostler's interpretations need to be read and debated, and consequently this book deserves to be taught at the university level, especially to graduate students."
David Reed Miller

Book Description

The book provides an overview of the relations between the Plains Sioux Indians and the United States from 1804 (the Lewis and Clark expedition) to 1890 (the Wounded Knee massacre). The main purpose of the book is to show how various Sioux communities and leaders responded to the growing power of the United States. The book differs from other books on the Sioux in that it uses the concept of colonialism to shed new light on the history of the Plains Sioux in the 1800s.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 406 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (July 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521605903
• ISBN-13: 978-0521605908
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #427,936 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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