Osceola's Legacy (Alabama Fire Ant) [Paperback]

Dr. Patricia Riles Wickman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Alabama Fire Ant | Publication Date: August 28, 2006

A bestselling, up-to-date evaluation of a legendary Indian leader. Named Outstanding Book by the Gustavus Myers Center for the  Study of Human Rights. "Osceola's Legacy is significant for its geneology and archaeological study of this Native American and his interaction with the federal government during the 1800s. The catalog of photographs of Osceola portraits and his personal possessions makes this a worthwhile reference book as well." --Georgia Historical Quarterly

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a fresh look at a fascinating figure who led the resistance to the removal of Florida Indians in the early 1800s. Though generally thought to be Seminole, Osceola actually was of mixed English and Creek blood."--Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Wickman does a thorough job of answering many questions surrounding the life and death of a remarkable man."--Tampa Tribune

"Through the newly discovered diary of the surgeon who attended Osceola on his death bed and the innovative use of cultural artifacts and graphic images, this investigation explodes the myth of Osceola and introduces the man in both a historical and an anthropological context."--Book Alert

About the Author

Patricia Riles Wickman is a former senior historian for the State of Florida, Director of the Department of Anthropology & Genealogy for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and author of The Tree that Bends: Discourse, Power, and the Survival of the Maskoki People.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Fire Ant Books; Revised edition (August 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0817353321
• ISBN-13: 978-0817353322
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,392,755 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gee, I thought it was great..., March 17, 2002

By 

Leah Bowe - See all my reviews

This review is from: Osceola's Legacy (Paperback)

I thought this work was marvelous. It's prodigiously and compassionately researched and written, exploring such varied facets of a single individual's life from what his parentage was (and how that may have shaped his identity,) what he wore (and how *that* may have shaped his identity,) the mistakes he made during his lifetime, who he might have been romantically involved with, and the disposition of his body after his death.

It's not a very theoretically-oriented text, but as a biography of the most famous Seminole who ever lived -- I though it made Osceola jump off the page. Only note of warning: this does contain a rather graphic couple of chapters on both Osceola's decapitation by his doctor immediately following his death and the exhumation of his corpse in the sixties. Sensitive readers should be aware of this.

BTW, Dr. Wickman is currently the Director of the Department of Anthropology and Geneaology at the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and was formerly the state of Florida's historian. I'm not saying this makes her unimpeachable as an historian, but I really do think she knows what she's talking about.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ivy-covered research, July 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Osceola's Legacy (Paperback)

If you're into reading heavy-handed college textbooks then this book is for you! Exhaustively researched and abstrusely (look that one up!) written, it makes Osceola's dynamic and fascinating life as exciting as stale crackers. The author even has the audacity to rate other researchers in the back. The research is exhastive and you will be too once you finish this book. It gave my dictionary a good workout tho!

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Wickman's disrespect for Osceola'a legacy, August 6, 2000

By 

Arnie Powell (Conyers, GA United States (Note: I would prefer to leave out my physical location--though the E-mail address is okay.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Osceola's Legacy (Paperback)

I wanted to request a refund on the amount of money that had been wasted on this terrible piece of writing, but it was much more fun to use the book in building a fire. Wickman's research was padantic; obsessively detailed. However, there was no linear (or other) thinking involved in the final synthesis. In fact, having read the same research literature as Dr. Wickman had poured through, it is amazing to me that someone could write so many pages that are comprehensible only to people who have actually read the same research literature. Her writing evokes a rememberance of a criticism of Henry James (slightly reworded): "This author (not a writer) fills a much needed void." Let us pray that the Seminole Tribe of Florida will soon experience a void that once was occupied by this author. Osceola was a great War Chief, and a very interesting individual. Wickman's work does great injustice to both legacies.