Indians in Pennsylvania [Paperback]

I was really pleased with this book, all the more so since it was published in 1970, when attitudes towards Native Americans weren't as they are today in 2005.

The book is not too long, but thorough and well-documented. It's about right for someone who's really busy and just wants a good and thorough overview.

The book explains well the various tribes (including the Delaware, Iriquois, Eries, Susquehannocks, Shawnee, Conoy, Conestoga, Mohawk, Oneida, Tuscarora, and Wyandots), although it's focus is particularly on the Delaware and Iriquois, who were descendant and ascendant at the time. Wallace does a particularly good job explaining the impact of white settlers on the native tribes, particularly in terms of the impact on native economics, which drove local tribes to immediately abandon traditional weapons for guns, which they could only get from the settlers. In order to get guns, the only item the settlers wanted were furs, which were in demand in Europe, particularly beaver. Immediately the local animal populations were devastated, and in order to get more, the Native tribes had to go further and further west. All the tribes realized that their fates were precarious, as they dealt with the English in the East and the French to the North, and the Indian tribes weren't innocent, they worked politics and alliances as well as the English... although perhaps not as well as the French. The Iriquois in particular had a clear vision of what they had to do to survive, and jockeyed to become the middle-men between the other Indian tribes and the settlers.

There's much more than this, including primary source accounts from the 17th and 18th Century, well-balanced descriptions of culture, technology, religion, and ceremonies, maps and illustrations, and the final migration of the Indians out of Pennsylvania, based on a series of land purchases and the "extinguishment of Indian title." And of course much history about the wars and conflicts between tribes and the settlers.

History has been revised (as it has been before and will be before), and this book may have an older point of view that may not be what is conventional wisdom today regarding relations between the settlers and natives. But in some ways this point of view is new to me, and is worth considering. Rather than being entirely stolen, land in pennsylvania was purchased in fairly above-board manners that surprised me. When taken in context of how land had been won and lost between the tribes for centuries before, and how there was a vast uninhabited area in Western Pennsylvania due to the disappearnce of the Monongahelia tribe (due to plague or conquest is unknown), it puts things in a new perspective. That doesn't lessen by any means other tragic events (such as the forced relocation through the Trail of Tears, etc.) and what conventional wisdom says are hundreds of other broken treaties, but it is a different perspective.

I'd recommend this book for people with an interest in local history, and students in high school and perhaps junior high school.

Paul A. W. Wallace offers us an unbiased account of the history of
the Native American people of Pennsylvania. Each chapter made
me want to learn more about the individual tribe that was
represented in its pages and inspired me to continue reading.

Mr. Wallace does not ever compare the European settlers with
the Indians and say that one was more savage than the other.
He merely points out that the Native American people were
more intelligent than what the history books would have us
believe. Paul Wallace introduces us to an innocent culture
and guides us through the necessary metamorphosis of a land
besieged by "conquerors."

If you're interested in the plight of Native Americans, or
in the history of Pennsylvania, this book should become the
keystone of your library!

"Indians in Pennsylvania" provides a very concise overview of Native American cultures and covers the interaction of the European immigration. This is one of the best presentations of interaction of the "White Man" and the Native North Americans that I have read.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews  4.6 out of 5 stars