The Native American Studies Shelf

Great Women of Mackinac, 1800-1950
Melissa Croghan
Michigan State University Press
1405 South Harrison Road, Suite 25, East Lansing, MI 48823-5245 http://msupress.org
9781611864533, $37.95, PB, 270pp

https://msupress.org/9781611864533/great-women-of-mackinac-1800-1950

Synopsis: With the publication of "Great Women of Mackinac, 1800 - 1950", a= uthor and Mackinac Island resident Melissa Croghan tells the dramatic histo=
ry of thirteen women leaders on Mackinac Island in the nineteenth and early=
twentieth centuries. Their linked visions of family and community define t= his beautiful island in the western Great Lakes.

In the pages of this collective biography, Melissa reveals how central thes=
e Native American women were to the history and literature of Mackinac. Eli= zabeth Bertrand Mitchell, Madeline Marcot LaFramboise, Therese Marcot Schin= dler, Elizabeth Therese Baird, Agatha Biddle, and Jane Johnston Schoolcraft=
were Anishinaabe fur traders, farmers, memoirists, and poets who establish=
ed the nineteenth-century island community.

Among the women of Mackinac, there were also those who sang the island's pr= aises and recorded the lively relationships of the English, French, and Ame= rican inhabitants. These writers included Juliette Magill Kinzie, Anna Brow= nell Jameson, Margaret Fuller, and Constance Fenimore Woolson.

There were also community builders who founded key institutions and midwife=
d generations of island children: Rosa Truscott Webb, Daisy Peck Blodgett, = and Stella King.

Critique: Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Great Women=
of Mackinac, 1800 - 1950" will have a very special relevance and appeal to=
readers with an interest in Native American History, Native American Women=
's Lives, and Mackinac Island's storied history. Informed and informative, = "Great Women of Mackinac, 1800 - 1950" is a fascinating, informative, and m= emorable read from cover to cover. While highly recommended as an original = and valued addition to personal, professional, community, and academic libr= ary Native American History/Biography collections and supplemental curricul=
um studies lists, it should be noted that "Great Women of Mackinac, 1800 - = 1950" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $37.95) for stude= nts, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the s= ubject.

Editorial Note: Melissa Croghan's family has lived on Mackinac Island since=
the 1880s. She is the author of the novel, The Tracking Heart, and the boo=
k, Cliff Walk: Mackinac Poems and Paintings. She holds a master's degree an=
d doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, where she taught American = literature.

Cherokee Civil Warrior
W. Dale Weeks
University of Oklahoma Press
2800 Venture Drive, Norman, OK 73069
www.oupress.com
9780806191577, $32.95, HC, 246pp

https://www.amazon.com/Cherokee-Civil-Warrior-Struggle-Sovereignty/dp/08061= 91570

Synopsis: For the Cherokee Nation, the American Civil War was more than a c= ontest between the Union and the Confederacy. It was yet another battle in = the larger struggle against multiple white governments for land and tribal = sovereignty. With the publication of "Cherokee Civil Warrior: Chief John Ro=
ss and the Struggle for Tribal Sovereignty", historian and academician W. D= ale Weeks tells the story of Chief John Ross as he led the tribe in this st= ruggle.

The son of a Scottish father and mixed-blood Indian mother, John Ross serve=
d the Cherokee Nation in a public capacity for nearly fifty years, thirty-e= ight as its constitutionally elected principal chief. Professor Weeks descr= ibes Ross's efforts to protect the tribe's interests amid systematic attack=
s on indigenous culture throughout the nineteenth century, from the forced = removal policies of the 1830s to the exigencies of the Civil War era. At th=
e outset of the Civil War, Ross called for all Cherokees, slaveholding and = nonslaveholding, to remain neutral in a war they did not support -- a posit= ion that became untenable when the United States withdrew its forces from I= ndian Territory. The vacated forts were quickly occupied by Confederate tro= ops, who pressured the Cherokees to align with the South.

Viewed from the Cherokee perspective (as Professor Weeks does in this study=
), these events can be seen in their proper context, as part of the history=
of U.S. "Indian policy," failed foreign relations, and the Anglo-American = conquest of the American West. This approach also clarifies President Abrah=
am Lincoln's acknowledgment of the federal government's abrogation of its t= reaty obligation and his commitment to restoring political relations with t=
he Cherokees -- a commitment abruptly ended when his successor Andrew Johns=
on instead sought to punish the Cherokees for their perceived disloyalty.

Centering a Native point of view, "Cherokee Civil Warrior: Chief John Ross = and the Struggle for Tribal Sovereignty" recasts and expands what we know a= bout John Ross, the Cherokee Nation, its commitment to maintaining its sove= reignty, and the Civil War era in Indian Territory. Weeks also provides his= torical context for later developments, from the events of Little Bighorn a=
nd Wounded Knee to the struggle over tribal citizenship between the Cheroke=
es and the descendants of their former slaves.

Critique: A seminal study underwritten by meticulous scholarship, "Cherokee=
Civil Warrior: Chief John Ross and the Struggle for Tribal Sovereignty" by=
Professor W. Dale Weeks is informatively enhanced for the reader with the = inclusion of Maps, twenty-six pages of Notes, a sixteen page Bibliography, = and a ten page Index. While a critically important and unreservedly recomme= nded addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library 19=
th Century Native American History and American Civil War History collectio=
ns and supplemental curriculum Native American Biography studies lists, it = should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers = with an interest in the subject that "Cherokee Civil Warrior: Chief John Ro=
ss and the Struggle for Tribal Sovereignty" is also available in a digital = book format (Kindle, $18.99).

Editorial Note: W. Dale Weeks (https://wdaleweeks.com) is a History Instruc= tor at Blinn College in Bryan, Texas. He holds a PhD in history from Texas = A&M University.

In Defense of Sovereignty
Rebecca M. Webster
University of Wisconsin Press
728 State Street, Suite 443, Madison, WI 53706-1418
www.uwpress.wisc.edu
9780299340605, $27.95, HC, 208pp

https://www.amazon.com/Defense-Sovereignty-Protecting-Inherent-Self-Determi= nation/dp/0299340600

Synopsis: With the publication of "In Defense of Sovereignty: Protecting th=
e Oneida Nation's Inherent Right to Self-Determination" Professor Rebecca M=
.. Webster informative recounts the history of the Oneida Nation and its str= uggles for self-determination.

Since the nation's removal from New York in the 1820s to what would become = the state of Wisconsin, it has been engaged in legal conflicts with US acto=
rs to retain its sovereignty and its lands. A legal scholar and former Onei=
da Nation senior staff attorney, Professor Webster traces this history, inc= luding the nation's treaties with the US but focusing especially on its rel= ationship with the village of Hobart, Wisconsin. Since 2003 there have been=
six disputes that have led to litigation between the local government and = the nation. Central to these disputes are the local government's attempts t=
o regulate the nation and relegate its government to the position of a comm=
on landowner, subject to municipal authority.

As in so many conflicts between Indigenous nations and local municipalities=
, the media narrative about the Oneida Nation's battle for sovereignty has = been dominated by the local government's standpoint. "In Defense of Soverei= gnty" offers another perspective, that of Native Americans directly involve=
d in the litigation, augmented by contributions from historians, attorneys,=
and a retired nation employee. This seminal history makes an important con= tribution to public debates about the inherent right of Indigenous nations =
to continue to exist and exercise self-governance within their territories = without being challenged at every turn.

Critique: An extraordinary and seminal work of impeccable scholarship, "In = Defense of Sovereignty: Protecting the Oneida Nation's Inherent Right to Se= lf-Determination" is informative enhanced for the reader with the inclusion=
of a number of Illustrations, a four page Glossary, and a thirteen page In= dex. An absolutely essential and unreservedly recommended addition to perso= nal, professional, community, college, and university library Native Americ=
an Studies collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists, it should=
be noted for students, academicians, Native American political activists, = and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "In=
Defense of Sovereignty: Protecting the Oneida Nation's Inherent Right to S= elf-Determination" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kind= le, $26.55).

Editorial Note: Rebecca M. Webster (www.wisconsinacademy.org/contributor/re= becca-webster) is an Assistant Professor in the American Indian studies dep= artment at the University of Minnesota Duluth. she was also former senior s= taff attorney for the Oneida Nation. She is the co-editor of Tribal Adminis= tration and Governance Handbook, and her articles can be found in American = Indian Quarterly, Planning Theory and Practice, Wisconsin Lawyer, Ethnohist= ory, and the Journal of American Indian Education.

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