Neither Wolf Nor Dog: American Indians, Environment, and Agrarian Change [Hardcover]

David Rich Lewis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 1994 | ISBN-10: 0195062973 | ISBN-13: 978-0195062977 | Edition: First Edition

During the nineteenth century, Americans looked to the eventual civilization and assimilation of Native Americans through a process of removal, reservation, and directed culture change. Policies for directed subsistence change and incorporation had far-reaching social and environmental consequences for native peoples and native lands. This study explores the experiences of three groups--Northern Utes, Hupas, and Tohono O'odhams--with settled reservation and allotted agriculture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Each group inhabited a different environment, and their cultural traditions reflected distinct subsistence adaptations to life in the western United States. Each experienced the full weight of federal agrarian policy yet responded differently, in culturally consistent ways, to subsistence change and the resulting social and environmental consequences. Attempts to establish successful agricultural economies ultimately failed as each group reproduced their own cultural values in a diminished and rapidly changing environment. In the end, such policies and agrarian experiences left Indian farmers marginally incorporated and economically dependent.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An important addition to the growing body of literature about the origins of Native American economic dependency....Recommended for readers at all levels."--Choice

"The solid prose in Neither Wolf Nor Dog reflects thorough research and scholarship....By making American Indians historical actors and by listening to their voices, Lewis makes this a model study."--Nebraska History

"An excellent book....This study will be useful for anyone interested in the agricultural and environmental history of the West. Moreover, much of his study concerns the twentieth century, and it can be used to generalize about the agricultural and environmental experiences of Native Americans throughout the region as they attempted to accommodate a white-controlled world."--Environmental History Review

"David Rich Lewis has written an extraordinarily perceptive analysis of attempts of the United States to force agriculture upon three nineteenth-century Native American tribes....Lewis's book is well-researched, documented, and nicely-written. It will be useful to students and scholars in a variety of disciplines surrounding western American history and Native American studies. I highly recommend the book."--New Mexico Historical Review

"[A] highly sophisticated study."--Utah Historical Quarterly

About the Author

David Rich Lewis is at Utah State University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; First Edition edition (October 6, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195062973
• ISBN-13: 978-0195062977
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,968,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Seeding assimilation?, December 3, 2005

By 

Douglas Sackman (vashon island, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Neither Wolf Nor Dog: American Indians, Environment, and Agrarian Change (Paperback)

The review below actually refers to a different book which shares the same title. The author of this book is, I understand, a Native American historian. He is also the editor of the Western Historical Quarterly. His book is an illuminating investigation of U.S.-Indian policy and the conceit that pushing agricultural modernization on Indian reservations would lead to Indian assimilation and the eradication of the "Indian problem." Lewis allows us to see concretely what these policies meant, how they were received in Indian country, and how they were modified or resisted by Indians themselves.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Goes beyond cliches, June 23, 2004

By 

David Teare (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Neither Wolf Nor Dog: American Indians, Environment, and Agrarian Change (Paperback)

I am usually suspicious of books by whites about natives that start out by criticizing other books by whites about natives, and then take the but-this-is-a-different-sort-of-book stance.

However, Nerburn is an engaging author with a genuine feel for American Indian issues, and the reader will feel this respect throughout. The book chronicles his adventures on the road with an Elder, during which he learns lessons as diverse as why there are rusting cars in front of a shack on the rez, and what the deepest significance of Wounded Knee is.

Well worth the read and the price.