Customer Reviews

Iroquois Culture & Commentary

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Iroquois Culture & Commentary offers a dynamic survey of Iroquois history, culture and traditions beginning with the founding of the Great Law of Peace almost one thousand years ago down to the current movement to revitalize cultural traditions and recover lost homelands. Doug George-Kanentiio writes with a special authority as an Iroquois leader and member of the Mohawk nation as provides a complete refutation of stereotypes and misperceptions regarding the great Six Nation Iroquois Confederacy, whose settled territories comprises most of the landmass that became the various states of the American northeast. Iroquois Culture & Commentary is a superb and very welcome addition to Native American studies reading lists in general, and Iroquois cultural history collections in particular.

This book is actually a compilation of newspaper articles published by the author over the past few years. As such it makes for a disjointed book that repeats itself with the same generalized, superficial information about the history and culture of the Iroquois. Although you will find a few gems of information that may not be available elsewhere, such as information about people like Chief Bernie Parker, the rest of the book will be somewhat disappointing.

Although the jacket of the book claims that the author "challenges the stereotypes and common assumptions that limit our understanding of the great Six Nations," he does so by presenting an unrealistic, overly-idealistic and romantic description that is about as useless to the serious student of the Iroquois as the bloodthirsty savage stereotypes of yesteryear. According to Kanentiio's thinking, the Iroquois were a race of tree-hugging avatars who said a two-hour prayer of thanksgiving before every bite of food. When dealing with the modern entrepreneurs who aren't content with living in poverty, he dismisses them as "ethnic Iroquois" who have ceased to be a part of their nations and confederacy. It may impress the fundamentalist Iroquois chiefs to say this, but it does nothing for the reader who wants more encompassing insight into the modern political situation.

While there are many scholars, both native and non-native, who are breaking new ground in areas of the history and culture of the Iroquois, Kanentiio isn't one of them. This book reads like many other books put by "enlightened" non-native authors who seem a bit starstruck by the all-knowing, all-wise Iroquois. What we really need is a book by someone who is willing to take a harsher look at the realities of modern Iroquois life as well as our complicated past and give us a book we can really sink our teeth into.

I would have given this book a negative rating if it was available. Following up on the above critique. I agree that the above are nothing more than news articles (edititorials really), which were yellow journalism at the time and are very little more now. This book is of very little use to any serious student of Iroquois culture, as the author would mold our history and culture to fit contemporary political views and agendas. The term "ėthnic Iroquois" is especially ignorant considering the source, but I digress. The book provides an elementary understanding of true traditional culture and does not provide a compare/contrast of the handsome lake religion to the great law. I would recommend the book but I believe it would be a disservice to any serious student of Iroquios culture. Try Parkman, Morgan, John C. Mohawk, or even Fenton for a more balanced view!