Monday, May 16, 2011

The Brothertown Nation of Indians - A Highly Recommended Book

Brad Jarvis' recent (2010, University of Nebraska Press) book The Brothertown Nation of Indians: Land Ownership and Nationalism in Early America, 1740-1840, received a very positive review in the April, 2011 issue of Choice Magazine. The reviewer, Lawrence Hauptmann, placed it in the "Highly Recommended" category.

Jarvis also gets a "thumbs up" from me simply for referring to his subjects as the "Brothertowns," instead of the "Brothertons." (Some academics prefer the latter name despite that fact that it is also the name of an entirely different tribe of Christian Algonkians.) Anyway, I also like the fact that Jarvis bothers to deal with the Brothertown Nation's time in what is now Wisconsin instead of just focusing on their days in New York State among the Oneidas.


There is a quote (page 6) in the introduction to Professor Jarvis' book which you may find to ring true with things I've been saying here:


"Christian themes of redemption and self-empowerment also resonated with people marginalized by colonialism."