The Return of the Native: American Indian Political Resurgence

Cornell, Stephen

ISBN 10: 0195037723 / ISBN 13: 9780195037722

Published by Oxford University Press, 1988

Seller Inventory # 0195037723-4-34004094

Synopsis:

A sympathetic and incisive look at American Indian and Euro-American relations from the 16th century to the present, this book focuses on how such relations have shaped the Indians' political identity and tactics in their ongoing struggle for power. Cornell shows how, in the early days of colonisation, Indians were able to maintain their nationhood by playing off the competing European powers; and how the American Revolution and westward expansion caused native Americans to lose not only their economic independence, but also their social cohesion, land, and ultimately their cultural identity. The final part of the book recounts the slow, steady reemergence of American Indian political power and identity, evidenced by militant political activism in the 1960s and early 1970's. Readership: sociologists and political scientists interested in problems of racial minorities; students of American social and political history.

Review: It should be required reading for all students of Indian and white relations. (Journal of American Ethnic History)

Important and ambitious....Interesting, broad, and engaging. It promises an understanding of a relatively unexamined, evocative, and both tragic and heroic province of American ethnic diversity and political mobilization. (American Journal of Sociology)

An excellent work that adroitly handles an exceedingly complex subject. (C. Matthew Snipp, University of Wisconsin-Madison)

A fascinating overview of early American Indian relations, specifically, how the tribes lost land, independence, and power, but (by playing one official body off another)

Well written and persuasively argued, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars in the social sciences and to discerning general readers. (Choice)

A cogent analysis of the efforts of generations of native peoples to regain some measure of control over their own lives, community resources, and futures....Highly recommended. (Minnesota History)

With interpretive subtlety and analytical power, Cornell traces the active responses of American Indians to Euro-American power. His book combines historic scope and anthropological depth. It speaks at once to social scientists and the educated public (to all who would better understand the dynamics of ethnicity.)

Without a doubt this book is the most comprehensive and systematically argued study of the formation of Native American supratribal identity and resultant political action. Cornell presents a clear, logical and sensitive analysis of changing Native American political conditions that are the outcome of struggles between the goals and opportunities of the Native American groups and powerful forces of structural domination. Here is a significant contribution to the study of the politicization of ethnic identity and political mobilization among subordinated groups. (Duane Champagne, University of California, Los Angeles)

An informative, stimulating account of the vicissitudes of the relations between American Indians and the peoples who invaded their territories....The account is told with grace and wit. (Humanity & Society)

Excellent book (one of the best, theoretically and historically, to come out in recent years.)

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Return of the Native: American Indian ...
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication Date: 1988
Binding: hardcover
Condition: Fair