Native American Testimony: A Chronicle of Indian-White Relations from Prophecy to the Present [Paperback]

Peter Nabokov (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1992 | ISBN-10: 0140129863 | ISBN-13: 978-0140129861

From their first encounters with traders, explorers, missionaries, settlers, and soldiers, to the heyday of "Red Power" during the 1960s and '70s, the relations of Native Americans with white men are explored in a powerful series of documents--seen through Indian eyes and told in Indian voices. Photographs.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Anthropologist Nabokov reorganizes and expands his 1978 book of the same title, a compelling alternative view of U.S. history from the Native American point of view. Photos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

From the author of the classic Two Leggings: The Making of a Crow Warrior ( LJ 6/15/67), this collection of documents, drawn from North American Indian oral culture and from government transcripts, reservation newspapers, and autobiographies, spans 500 years of interchange between Indians and whites. Based on sound ethnology, with eloquent and informed chapter introductions, it consists of two parts. The first nine chapters were originally published as Native American Testimony: An Anthology of Indian- White Relations; First Encounters to Dispossession (Crowell, 1978). This part begins with prophecies of white people's arrival and chronicles responses to explorers, traders, missionaries, settlers, and government presence. The earlier anthology has been expanded by the addition of a longer second part, "Reservation to Resurgence," in which materials up to the present are included. Here land allotment (the Dawes Act), old ways versus white ways, the Native American Church, patriotism, and "New Indian Wars" are observed. Frequent hopeless ness is described: in the words of a Crow elder, "Our hearts were on the ground." In the tradition of Charles Hamilton's Cry of the Thunderbird (1950), this book com plements Wilcomb E. Washburn's huge The American Indian and the United States ( LJ 4/15/74, o.p.); for the effectiveness of many oral transcriptions it may be compared with Virginia Irving Arm strong's I Have Spoken ( LJ 9/15/71). Native American Testimony is highly recommended.
- Margaret W. Norton, Fenwick High Sch., Oak Park, Ill.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (November 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140129863
• ISBN-13: 978-0140129861
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,017,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The seldom told stories of our history, March 24, 1998

By 

David Graham (Shell, Ecuador) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Native American Testimony: A Chronicle of Indian-White Relations from Prophecy to the Present (Paperback)

Nabokov has done a superb job of collecting individual Native American memoirs from the last half millenium and weaving them together to paint the sad portrait of Indian-White relations. In between the tales from each successive time period in history is enlightening commentary, usually an historical overview of the period written by the editor. These commentaries help give a unity to this work. But this is not simply a bad guys vs. good guys book. Nabokov's stories reflect the complexity involved among Native Americans who frequently disagreed with each other about what would be the best path to trod for all concerned; and they also tell the stories of proud peoples who continued to survive and carry on. This book illuminates history in a way that most school textbooks do not.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interviews Out of Time, March 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Native American Testimony: A Chronicle of Indian-White Relations from Prophecy to the Present (Paperback)

This book is a collection of interviews with and stories from everyday people as they lived out their lives. I first read this book several years ago, yet I find that there are interviews and stories that I go back and reread again and again. If you are a Native or a student of Native American History, this is a good book to have on your shelf.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening Observations from All of History, September 20, 2001

By 

doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Native American Testimony: A Chronicle of Indian-White Relations from Prophecy to the Present (Paperback)

In this book, people who have read alot into Native American history will see the more famous Indian testimonials that have appeared in many other places, like those by heavily published persons like Black Elk, Tecumseh, and Charles Eastman (Sioux). You also get many anonymous accounts and the testimony from obscure persons who were only known to give their thoughts to a few white people. What sets this book above the rest, however, is that it doesn't just cover the time periods that are shown in most Native American histories, which would either be ancient pre-European times, or the famous era of the Indians' destruction and valiant efforts to maintain the old ways of life. This book also covers those areas, as it should, but continues into the modern reservation days, and even captures the thoughts of recent activists on the future of Native Americans. All people will be enlightened by the non-Western interpretations on history, religion, politics, and culture that are generously detailed in this book.