Synopses & Reviews
This history of the Mahicans begins with the appearance of Europeans on the Hudson River in 1609 and ends with the removal of these Native people to Wisconsin in the 1830s. Marshaling the methods of history, ethnology, and archaeology, William A. Starna describes as comprehensively as the sources allow the Mahicans while in their Hudson and Housatonic Valley homeland; after their consolidation at the praying town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts; and following their move to Oneida country in central New York at the end of the Revolution and their migration west.
The emphasis throughout this book is on describing and placing into historical context Mahican relations with surrounding Native groups: the Munsees of the lower Hudson,and#160;eastern Iroquoians, and the St. Lawrence and New England Algonquians. Starna also examines the Mahicansand#8217; interactions with Dutch, English, and French interlopers. The first and most transformative of these encounters was with the Dutch and the trade in furs, which ushered in culture change and the loss of Mahican lands. The Dutch presence, along with the new economy, worked to unsettle political alliances in the region that, while leading to new alignments, often engendered rivalries and war. The result is an outstanding examination of the historical record that will become the definitive work on the Mahican people from the colonial period to the Removal Era.
Review
"A combination of literary history, historiography, and cultural contextualization, this cogent book situates the little-known literature produced by this unresolved conflict in the context of genre studies, American Studies, public memory, and trauma and reconciliation."—S. K. Bernardin, CHOICE Southwest Journal of Cultures
Review
"Everyone teaching the Dakota War or captivity narratives, or seeking a cultural lens into a microcosm of nineteenth-century Indian Wars, will find this an essential addition to their library. . . . Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola has given us an interesting and effective way to think about this complicated moment in Minnesota history—a moment many groups are still struggling to come to terms with."—Wendy Lucas Castro, Southwest Journal of Cultures Wendy Lucas Castro
Review
"The War in Words presents a new perspective on the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, providing a deeper understanding of it through a more serious look at the complex identities and backgrounds of those who have shared its stories. . . . This work will undoubtedly provide an example of an approach to understanding the personal responses to war that may prove useful to those readers and scholars engaged in peace studies, truth commissions, and historical representations of war."—Erin Griffin, Studies in American Indian Literatures --S. K. Bernardin - CHOICE
Review
"Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola delves into what is one of the most hotly contested topics in Minnesota history—the ongoing legacy of the 1862 Dakota War. . . . It is clear from the first pages that Stodola has taken great care in crafting a balanced analysis of her material."—Diane Wilson, Minnesota History Rebecca Blevins Faery - Journal of American Ethnic History
Review
"The War in Words will be an invaluable source for scholars in many different fields."—Linda M. Clemmons, South Dakota History Diane Wilson - Minnesota History
Review
"Derounian-Stodola allows the dialogue and narratives to "speak". By doing so she has shown the highest respect. Her efforts at leveling the historical playing field by not only giving voice to those Natives who were previously voiceless in history but also by attempting to illustrate how wartime memories are wounds that are interpreted differently by each group because of personal, cultural, and historical context, should not go unnoticed."—Holly Boomer, Annals of Iowa --Linda M. Clemmons - South Dakota History
Review
"The War in Words is a well-researched and carefully constructed analysis of the historical and literary records produced following the controversial and chilling conclusion of the Dakota War."—Theresa L. Gregor, American Indian Culture and Research Journal Linda M. Clemmons - South Dakota History
Review
"Drawing on an exhaustive list of printed histories, personal narratives, contemporary perspectives, oral histories, and even fiction, Derounian-Stodola in The War in Words has written a compelling, thorough, and admirably inclusive history of the Dakota conflict."—Journal of American Ethnic History S. K. Bernardin - CHOICE
Review
"[From Homeland to New Land] is an outstanding examination of the historical record that will become the definite work on the Mahican people from the colonial period to the Removal Era."and#8212;Bob Edmonds, McCormick Messenger
Synopsis
The War in Words is the first book to study the captivity and confinement narratives generated by a single American war as it traces the development and variety of the captivity narrative genre. Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola examines the complex 1862 Dakota Conflict (also called the Dakota War) by focusing on twenty-four of the dozens of narratives that European Americans and Native Americans wrote about it. This six-week war was the deadliest confrontation between whites and Dakotas in Minnesotas history. Conducted at the same time as the Civil War, it is sometimes called Minnesotas Civil War because it was—and continues to be—so divisive. The Dakota Conflict aroused impassioned prose from participants and commentators as they disputed causes, events, identity, ethnicity, memory, and the all-important matter of the wars legacy. Though the study targets one region, its ramifications reach far beyond Minnesota in its attention to war and memory. An ethnography of representative Dakota Conflict narratives and an analysis of the wars historiography, The War in Words includes new archival information, historical data, and textual criticism.
About the Author
William A. Starna is professor emeritus of anthropology at the State University of New York, College at Oneonta. He is the author and editor of numerous books, including Gideonand#8217;s People: Being a Chronicle of an American Indian Community in Colonial Connecticut and the Moravian Missionaries Who Served There (Nebraska, 2009) and Adriaen van der Donckand#8217;s A Description of New Netherland (Nebraska, 2008).