Review by Choice Review
This is a series of oral histories taken down from the lips of Wisconsin Oneidas in the 1940s and then packed away and forgotten, until turned up again by accident in 1998. These edited manuscripts form a priceless treasure trove of fairly raw ethnographic data from one of the least explored periods of Native American history, the nadir between the Curtis Act of 1898 and the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. It is at once exciting and galling to read these vibrant pieces, still thrilling with a palpable distrust of "whites" here and cultural loss-in-progress there, as topics range from social relations to games to land seizure. Because of the cultural tumult this book captures, people who already have a fair knowledge of traditional Iroquoian lore and historical context will best be able to use it. For instance, a half-grasped mention of quadruplets being male and female sets of twins actually references a precontact Creation tradition, something that few neophytes would recognize. Similarly, naive readers will simply be baffled by offhanded mentions of such things as the "Declaration of Allegiance" or the nonstop impositions of Christianity on Oneida lives. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Researchers and upper-division students. B. A. Mann University of Toledo
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
