Frontier War for American Independence

Rating:
Summary: Same Old Drivel
Review: William Nester's The Frontier War for American Independence is both dry as dust and ridiculously condescending. The subject matter provides ample fodder for compelling story-telling, but Nester merely serves up a boring recitation of treaties and casualty totals. Being told that Indians raided a village and killed 5 and wounded 3 hardly fires the imagination. Nor does it capture the facts of life on the ground during this dangerous time. Nester breathes no life into his subject.

Perhaps worse is the author's attitude toward Indians. We are told in the first chapter of the book that "Unlike whites, Indians saw strength in genetic and racial diversity rather than uniformity." You see, Indians were into diversity before diversity was cool. You get the picture. All of Nester's discussions of Indians are prefaced by comparisons to Europeans and Americans, always to the Indians' benefit. They are at least no worse. "Like Europeans, Indians were capable of committing the most vicious of crimes..." But these "crimes" are rarely described in any detail or are excused or even passed off as admirable. The taking of captives for life is proof of the Indians' commitment to diversity, for example. The fact that women and children captives would often refuse to be repatriated is evidence of the superiority of Indian culture. And on and on, ad nauseum.

Read Allan Eckert's Dark and Bloody River instead of this hopelessly dry and insulting work.