n.a.

At 170 pages I came away from this slim monograph with the sense that it was really an essay that had run on for too long, but it is a useful examination (with particular emphasis on the career of Ely Parker) of the alternatives to the "assimilate or else" policies that came to be imposed on the First Nations at the height of the Gilded Age. Parker's particular tragedy might be that the reforms he instituted at the Office of Indian Affairs in the name of efficiency made it easier to strip the Indians of land, culture and self-respect. Also note that the author has no use for the pious belief that the United States was a limited government in the 19th century; there were no limits when it came to pursuing empire and sovereignty.… (plus d'informations)