Laboring in the Fields of the Lord: Spanish Missions and Southeastern Indians

Milanich, Jerald T.

ISBN 10: 1560989408 / ISBN 13: 9781560989400

Published by Smithsonian Institution Press, 1999

Very Good condition. Very Good dust jacket. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp. Seller Inventory # C09B-03126

Synopsis:

This book is dedicated to Michael Gannon and explicitly updates his 1965 The Cross in the Sand but views the subject from a different perspective: Where Gannon focused on the mission effort from the missionaries' point of view, Jerald T. Milanich is interested in the way Florida missions affected and were affected by the southeastern Indians they attempted to convert. In eight chapters he outlines the problem of the "lost" missions and the archaeology that has rediscovered them; describes the indigenous peoples of Florida at the time of contact with Europeans; recounts the major events of Spanish exploration; describes early Jesuit missions that failed; introduces the Franciscan missions that succeeded; provides detailed descriptions of Indian life in the mission settlements; traces significant Indian resistance to colonization and missionization; and finally recounts the collapse of the mission system under the inexorable onslaught of English attacks.

From the Author: Colonialism Stinks
When I began my research for this book I wanted only to tell the little known story of the Spanish missions that had dotted the countryside of the Southeast United States for two centuries in the colonial period. But, as is often the case in historical archaeology, what I thought was a straightforward tale of friars and Indians became an exposé implicating church, Spanish officials, and even Indian chiefs. Yes, missions saved souls, but they also harnessed the Indians, controlling minds and bodies for the good of the colony. When diseases, forced labor, and slave raids decimated the mission Indians, Spain's La Florida colony was lost.

Audiences always ask me who to blame for the demise of the mission Indians. My answer: no one. All the players in this centuries-old drama acted in their own interests, doing what they thought was right in the context of the time.

We cannot change what took place. But I hope learning about the missions and their role in colonialism perhaps can help us see that contending one particular religion or culture or lifestyle is the only one only brings conflict, discord, and, in the end, tragedy. Colonialism stinks. What do you think?

Bibliographic Details

Title: Laboring in the Fields of the Lord: Spanish ...
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press
Publication Date: 1999
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included