Synopses & Reviews
This extraordinary new look at Lewis and Clark among the Nez Perce represents a breakthrough in Lewis and Clark studies.
Lewis and Clark Among the Nez Perce is the first richly detailed exploration of the relationship between Mr. Jeffersonandrsquo;s Corps of Discovery and a single tribe.
James Rondaandrsquo;s groundbreaking Lewis and Clark Among the Indians (1984) reversed the lens for the first time, to look broadly at the Lewis and Clark expedition through the Native American point of view.
Nearly three decades later, Nez Perce historians Allen V. Pinkham and Steven Ross Evans have examined the journals of Lewis and Clark with painstaking care to tease out new insights from what Lewis and Clark wrote about their Nez Perce hosts. Pinkham and Evans evaluate both what Lewis and Clark understood and what they misunderstood in the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) lifeway and political structure. More particularly they have re-examined the journals for clues about how the Nez Perce reacted to the bearded strangers. They have also gathered together and put into print for the first time the stands of a surprisingly rich Nez Perce oral tradition.
Lewis and Clark Among the Nez Perce is a generous and careful re-evaluation of what we all thought we knew about Lewis and Clark west of the Bitterroot Mountains. It is also a template for a series of tribal histories of the Lewis and Clark expedition that will be inspired by this book. Incidents we thought we knew backward and forward suddenly take on a new light when the historical lens is reversed.
Review
and#147;More than two centuries after Lewis and Clark entered the world of western native peoples, we at last have a full account of that encounter from an Indian perspective. The view is from the Nez Perces, the people who saved the Corps of Discovery, who became the republicand#8217;s firm allies and who, seven decades later, were ravaged in the nationand#8217;s final, and most shameful, Indian war. From the tiniest details to the widest understanding of events, this book tells the familiar story with a freshness and authenticity that sets it apart from the scores of others before it.and#8221;and#151; Dr. Elliott West, Professor, University of Arkansas
Review
and#147;This is the way that history should be written; rich in prose, exquisitely researched, and based on Nez Perce ethnohistory that adds a wealth of information to the almost tireless records of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. American Indian voices, cultures, societies, and responses to Lewis and Clark have almost been overwhelmed by non-Native histories. Now they are not; Nez Perce history brings American history alive again. As the authors say, and#145;In movement, life was found,and#8217; and in this case, and#145;In movement, history was found.and#8217;and#8221; and#151; J. Diane Pearson, Author The Nez Perces in the Indian Territory: Nimiipuu Survival
Review
and#147;This book enjoys the unbeatable twin advantages of, first, a subject involving Americaand#8217;s most famous early explorers and the Indian tribe that rescued their expedition, and, second, one author who is a respected elder tribal statesman and an authority on Nez Perce culture, and the other a professional historian who specializes on the overall subject. The result may well be the long-sought authoritative account on Lewis and Clarkand#8217;s encounter with the Nez Perce.and#8221; and#151; David H. Stratton, Professor Emeritus of History Washington State University
Synopsis
Nez Perce historian Allen Pinkham and Steve Evans have examined the journals of Lewis and Clark with painstaking care to tease out new insights about what Lewis and Clark wrote about their hosts the Nez Perce. Pinkham and Evans evaluate both what Lewis and Clark understood and what they misunderstood in the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) lifeway and political structure. More particularly they have re-examined the journals for clues about how the Nez Perce reacted to the bearded strangers. They have also gathered together and put into print for the first time the stands of a surprisingly rich Nez Perce oral tradition.
Synopsis
Lewis and Clark Among the Nez Perce is a generous and careful re-evaluation of what we all thought we knew about Lewis and Clark west of the Bitterroot Mountains. It is also a template for a series of tribal histories of the Lewis and Clark expedition that will be inspired by this book. Incidents we thought we knew backward and forward suddenly take on a new light when the historical lens is reversed.
About the Author
Allen V. Pinkham served in the United States Marine Corps and later earned a two-year degree from Lower Columbia College, in Longview, Washington. Following a long career in the private sector, he moved back to the Nez Perce Reservation and dedicated himself to serving the public as a story-telling educator-author and serving also for nine years (1981-1990) on the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee. He co-authored, with Dan Landeen, the book,
Salmon and His People, and wrote a chapter for Alvin Josephyandrsquo;s,
Lewis and Clark through Indian Eyes. He also served on the National Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Council, and helped create the Chief Joseph Foundation, a cultural support organization for tribal youth. He was also on the Board of Trustees for the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. He currently lives at Lenore, Idaho.
Steven Ross Evans, (Ph. D., history, Washington State University), taught history for thirty-three years at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, before retiring in 2001. He also led a parallel life in the construction trade working out of the Alaska Laborerandrsquo;s Union, Local #341, Anchorage, and retired from that in 1991. For the last eleven years he has been working with Allen Pinkham researching and writing on the Nez Perce Indians and the Lewis and Clark expedition. His wife, Connie, is a member of the Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho and they have three children and five grandchildren.
Frederick E. Hoxie is Swanlund Professor of History, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and coauthor of The People: A History of Native America.