AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES

by Marion E. Gridley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1974

Despite her close identification with Indian affairs and an obvious attempt to he open-minded, Gridley operates on a severely dated set of assumptions. Assimilation into white culture is equated with ""progress""; Indian ""notables"" are almost invariably those who have achieved success in the white educational system and professions; and one 18th century leader, Shikellamy, is described as ""picturesque,"" a word that seems implicitly appropriate throughout. Certainly there is little continuity or social history of the kind found in Georgakis' two volume history (Broken Hoop and Red Shadows, 1973). Rather, this is an outline of major events and personalities, full of intriguing facts and historical asides but very weak on interpretation -- which is in any case too often tossed off as a bland restatement of what ""historians say."" The many references to very small and historically obscure tribes lend this some supplemental value, but as Gridley cites no sources even her eclecticism is a limited virtue.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 192

Publisher: Dodd, Mead

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION