Rethinking American Indian History

Writing from the Indian point of view is a central concern to historians today. Not only are new sources needed to understand native peoples, but new questions must be asked—questions based in a deep knowledge of the languages and cultures of Native Americans. The seven essays in this volume present innovative approaches to revising Indian history and understanding native peoples on their own terms.

In this book seven leading scholars address the complex challenges of understanding over 500 Indian tribes as they see themselves. In addition to general discussions of historiography, the contributors address such issues as writing the history of native women, understanding Indian people’s relationship to the natural world, and conveying the role of native oral traditions. The contributors are James Axtell, William T. Hagan, Glenda Riley, Theda Purdue, Richard White, Angela Cavender Wilson, and the volume editor, Donald Fixico.

"A provocative contribution to the field."—Professor Margaret Connell Szasz.