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Rating: 
Summary: A Revisionist History of the Native Quest for Unity & Power
Review: In his book, A Spirited Resistance, Gregory Evans Dowd sheds new light on a familiar subject, the Native American plight during Colonial and early American history. Through reinterpretation of historical events and a close examination of native spirituality, Dowd argues that Native Americans struggled for and nearly achieved intertribal unity in their fight against Anglo domination from 1745-1815. While most scholars, and even the general public, consider Native Americans to be an extremely religious people, historians focus on more secular factors to define native motivations and the underlying causes of events. Dowd builds on the work of other historians who focus on a narrow subject to create a new broader view that he categorizes as a "New Cultural History" (Dowd xxiii). In so doing, Dowd's work becomes an excellent companion text for classic works such as Jennings' three-volume masterpiece.
Dowd concludes that nativist movements ultimately succeeded and failed because of opposition by accomodationist factions. He supports this seemingly contradictory statement through extensive research and persuasive examples. Nativist prophets and adherents gained followers because they could point to the failures of accomodationist policies. While the movement started on the fringes of various tribes, it spread until it almost achieved dominance. The natives fulfilled some of their aims, but they remained unable to eliminate the opposition within. As Anglo efforts increased, the accomodationists restrengthened their monopoly on Native American followers. As Dowd says, the opposition doomed the nativist movement. The great tragedy, of course, is that both movements failed to safeguard the native lands and lifestyles.
While intertribal unity may have eluded the natives during the time and regions that Dowd's book covers, the work foreshadows later efforts--both the failed Great Plains movement to expel the whites during the late nineteenth century and the current native activists' efforts for equality and improved conditions. Beginning in the 1960's, the American Indian Movement (AIM) began massive efforts to unite Indians all across the nation to regain their lost power. Dowd's text illustrates how important intertribal unity is for the sacred power to return.
(Rebecca McMurrin)
Rating:
Summary: A Revisionist History of the Native Quest for Unity & Power
Review: In his book, A Spirited Resistance, Gregory Evans Dowd sheds new light on a familiar subject, the Native American plight during Colonial and early American history. Through reinterpretation of historical events and a close examination of native spirituality, Dowd argues that Native Americans struggled for and nearly achieved intertribal unity in their fight against Anglo domination from 1745-1815. While most scholars, and even the general public, consider Native Americans to be an extremely religious people, historians focus on more secular factors to define native motivations and the underlying causes of events. Dowd builds on the work of other historians who focus on a narrow subject to create a new broader view that he categorizes as a "New Cultural History" (Dowd xxiii). In so doing, Dowd's work becomes an excellent companion text for classic works such as Jennings' three-volume masterpiece. Dowd concludes that nativist movements ultimately succeeded and failed because of opposition by accomodationist factions. He supports this seemingly contradictory statement through extensive research and persuasive examples. Nativist prophets and adherents gained followers because they could point to the failures of accomodationist policies. While the movement started on the fringes of various tribes, it spread until it almost achieved dominance. The natives fulfilled some of their aims, but they remained unable to eliminate the opposition within. As Anglo efforts increased, the accomodationists restrengthened their monopoly on Native American followers. As Dowd says, the opposition doomed the nativist movement. The great tragedy, of course, is that both movements failed to safeguard the native lands and lifestyles. While intertribal unity may have eluded the natives during the time and regions that Dowd's book covers, the work foreshadows later efforts--both the failed Great Plains movement to expel the whites during the late nineteenth century and the current native activists' efforts for equality and improved conditions. Beginning in the 1960's, the American Indian Movement (AIM) began massive efforts to unite Indians all across the nation to regain their lost power. Dowd's text illustrates how important intertribal unity is for the sacred power to return. (Rebecca McMurrin)
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Expansion of a Traditional Topic
Review: Public school teachers like Tecumseh. He's one of those "Noble Redmen" (along with Chief Joseph, Cochise, Osceola, etc.) that social studies teachers and textbooks always include. However, most elementary, junior high, even high school teachers know little of Native American history in any serious depth. We tend to jump from the culture group to the heroic individual and the terminal event (e.g., battle, treaty) with no stops inbetween. "A Spirited Resistance" provides a excellent context for events of the late colonial, revolutionary, and early national eras of U.S. history. In a modest 200 pages, Dowd provides an intellectual background that makes possible a deeper understanding of figures such as Tecumseh & Black Hawk and events such as the battles of Fallen Timbers & Tippecanoe. I strongly recommend the book, not only to teachers but to history buffs in general.
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