Limit this search to....

An Unspeakable Sadness: The Dispossession of the Nebraska Indians
Contributor(s): Wishart, David J. (Author)
ISBN: 0803297955     ISBN-13: 9780803297951
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
OUR PRICE:   $22.46  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: July 1997
Qty:
Annotation: Of all the interactions between American Indians and Euro-Americans, none was as fundamental as the acquisition of the indigenous peoples' lands. To Euro-Americans this takeover of lands was seen as a natural right, an evolution to a higher use; to American Indians the loss of homelands was a tragedy involving also a loss of subsistence, a loss of history, and a loss of identity.


Historical geographer David J. Wishart tells the story of the dispossession process as it affected the Nebraska Indians--Otoe-Missouria, Ponca, Omaha, and Pawnee--over the course of the nineteenth century. Working from primary documents, and including American Indian voices, Wishart analyzes the spatial and ecological repercussions of dispossession. Maps give the spatial context of dispossession, showing how Indian societies were restricted to ever smaller territories where American policies of social control were applied with increasing intensity. Graphs of population loss serve as reference lines for the narrative, charting the declining standards of living over the century of dispossession. Care is taken to support conclusions with empirical evidence, including, for example, specific details of how much the Indians were paid for their lands. The story is told in a language that is free from jargon and is accessible to a general audience.

Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | Native American
- History | United States - State & Local - General
Dewey: 978.200
LCCN: 94004611
Lexile Measure: 1460
Physical Information: 0.73" H x 6.12" W x 9.26" (1.03 lbs) 309 pages
Themes:
- Cultural Region - Plains
- Ethnic Orientation - Native American
- Geographic Orientation - Nebraska
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
Of all the interactions between American Indians and Euro-Americans, none was as fundamental as the acquisition of the indigenous peoples' lands. To Euro-Americans this takeover of lands was seen as a natural right, an evolution to a higher use; to American Indians the loss of homelands was a tragedy involving also a loss of subsistence, a loss of history, and a loss of identity. Historical geographer David J. Wishart tells the story of the dispossession process as it affected the Nebraska Indians-Otoe-Missouria, Ponca, Omaha, and Pawnee-over the course of the nineteenth century. Working from primary documents, and including American Indian voices, Wishart analyzes the spatial and ecological repercussions of dispossession. Maps give the spatial context of dispossession, showing how Indian societies were restricted to ever smaller territories where American policies of social control were applied with increasing intensity. Graphs of population loss serve as reference lines for the narrative, charting the declining standards of living over the century of dispossession. Care is taken to support conclusions with empirical evidence, including, for example, specific details of how much the Indians were paid for their lands. The story is told in a language that is free from jargon and is accessible to a general audience. David J. Wishart is a professor of geography at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is the author of The Fur Trade of the American West, 1807-1840: A Geographical Synthesis (Nebraska 1979).