The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America [Hardcover]

James Wilson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0871137305 | ISBN-13: 978-0871137302 | Publication Date: April 1999

As far as history books are concerned, Native Americans have been secondary to an essentially Euro-American story. Now James Wilson has produced a rigorously authoritative, beautifully written, comprehensive history that - as Richard Gott wrote in the London Literary Review - "places the 'Native Americans' at the center of the historical stage, abandoning the traditional version of the American past in which the 'Indians' had a subservient role on the periphery of someone else's epic. Drawing not only on historical sources but also on ethnography, archaeology, Indian oral tradition, and his own extensive research in Native American communities, James Wilson sets out to make the Indian perspective on the past and the present accessible to a broad audience.

Editorial Reviews

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

From Library Journal

Wilson has been actively involved with indigenous North Americans for almost 25 years. Here he presents a comprehensive, imaginative overview of Native American history that is exceptional in its concept: Wilson has gathered information not only from historical sources but from ethnographic and archaeological works as well as oral histories. He looks at social issues such as intermarriage and language loss in addition to the political and environmental issues faced by present-day Native American communities. Wilson begins with the first English settlements on the Atlantic coast in the 1500s and moves from century to century, focusing on various geographic areas through the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890. He then addresses today's social, political, and economic issues while trying to examine the legacy of ignorance and misunderstanding that has reduced the Native American population from 7 to 10 million people to 250,000 in four centuries. Because it encompasses so many facets of the Native American situation, this volume will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers.AVicki Leslie Toy Smith, Univ. of Nevada, Reno
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 466 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Pr (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871137305
• ISBN-13: 978-0871137302
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #146,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Columbus to Collier, April 7, 2003

By 

Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America (Paperback)

Helen Hunt Jackson's "A Century of Dishonor," [1881] initiated a string of books by white writers attempting to impart the disaster imposed on North America's native peoples by invaders from Europe. James Wilson has taken a place in that queue with this sweeping study of how native peoples were displaced, deceived, diseased and nearly destroyed. It isn't pleasant reading, but conquest never is when told from the view of the conquered. Wilson attempts to provide a whisper of that voice with as many native peoples' accounts as he could obtain. The result vividly demonstrates the disparity of outlook between the Europeans and those they overran over the course of five centuries.

Although no attempt is made to preface the arrival of Columbus with some account of the previous life of North American native peoples, the text recounts their legends and mythology as they are encountered. Only a smattering of paleoanthropology is offered, and the "consensus" version of Native American origins is dismissed out of hand. Wilson's regional approach is a refreshing departure from the usual chronological format. However, since the focus is on the 48 contiguous States, region and chronology aren't all that distinct.

The issues are land and culture, with a seasoning of racism. The native American "used" the land while the Europeans "owned" it. Native American culture was disparate, often locked into local conditions. Europeans imported a hierarchical society and imposed it wherever they went. Since they went all across the continent, continual clashes were inevitable - and the Europeans won nearly all of them. By the end of the 19th Century, the "Indian", if not extinct, had lost the continent and nearly all culture. According to Wilson, that was precisely what the invaders intended. Where slaughter failed, assimilation could still force disappearance of the "native" from society.

Attempts to rectify, or at least ameliorate what had occurred over the years, were doomed to failure. The variety of cultures among the Indian nations made consistent policy by the federal government impossible. State government attempts, feeble at best, were worse. The closest to a rational policy for dealing with the remaining Indians in the 20th Century were due to one man - John Collier. Starting in the 1920s, Collier struggled to restore some form of the original culture of Native Americans. His programme, now referred to as the "Native New Deal," was based on his own search for a solution to world problems of the era. Years of effort were rewarded by his appointment as Commissioner of Indian Affairs. The onset of the Great Depression gave Collier ample opportunity to propagandize his cause as an alternative to the failure of the dominant culture. His efforts to achieve a form of "home rule" for the Indian population is reflected in many programmes still under consideration today. He has left a long, and generally unrecognized, legacy.

Those bemoaning the "lack of balance" in this book overlook the fact that Europeans were the invaders and despoilers. The spectrum of philosophies regarding the "Noble Savage" uniformly fail to address precisely what Wilson does here. An alien culture displaced another, native one, using whatever means necessary. It's a sad, but true, chronicle. Wilson's depiction of it makes dreary reading, but that's due to events, not his style. A fine introduction to the past relationship of conquerors and conquered, this book concludes with a realistic account of the present situation. With increasing demand for resources by the planet's most avaricious society, sustaining or restoring Indian culture is a remote ambition. The clash of cultures remains an issue, which this book clearly outlines. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best one-volume overview, March 29, 2000

By 

James Stripes - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America (Paperback)

This book offers a readable overview of the major themes in American Indian history. Although there are many things one could find to fault in this book, there is no better overview. I especially like the way the author (a white man from Britain) weaves together orthodox academic opinion with Native voices. Wilson's book deftly combines a chronological approach with organization by regions. In each region he highlights general patterns, but then focuses much of the narrative on a few representative tribal histories. Had he tried to write about all of the more than 500 tribes, nations, villages, and bands of Native North America, he would have produced an unreadable book. Instead, he selects those groups that allow him to give enough detail to keep the narrative flowing, while also emphasizing the interrelations of peoples and places that are central to the best history. Throughout the narrative, he offers long quotes from published versions of Native orature.

This book is an exceptional introduction to the history usually suppressed or misrepresented in schools and colleges. It is accessible to high school and college level readers, but can even add to the store of knowledge of experts in American Indian history. It has become the core text in many of my classes.

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellently Researched and Big-Hearted, July 6, 2000

By 

R. M. Calitri (California,USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America (Hardcover)

If you are searching for a book about Native American history, this is the book for you. James Wilson's research is presented in three digestable sections: Origins, Invasion, and Internal Frontiers, with the largest body of work appearing in the central section. I recently took an 8,000 miles drive around the United States and read this book the entire month as I entered corresponding areas (such as Southwest, Far West, Great Plains, etc).

Taking Wilson's book on my trip was a smart choice because not only did I experience the sites and people he describes, but his book enabled me to also see into the past, as it were, of these Native People. Wilson's research combines oral history (which will break your heart), political history and analysis, archeology, and ethnography. Several qualities make Wilson's book different from others. First, his research is current and fairly presented. For example, he provides an overview of various theories used to explain the disappearance of the great Puebloan societies so readers can appreciate the variety of ideas and political interests of the theorists. In addition, his synthesis of Native American histories in the forms of stories (and explanation of rituals) with that of modern analyses makes this book even more valuable.

It is clear that Mr. Wilson's heart and conscience is with the Native Americans, and that, above all else, is what makes this book powerful. If it lacks anything, in my opinion, it is the addition of visual aids. A few maps and photographs would have made this text even more powerful. But if you want to read about the tragedy of evil White politics, the demise of many beautiful societies and their relationships before contact,this book holds nothing back. It is a passionate, digestable, and truthful history of the horrors inflicted (past and present)on original people. END