William Apess (1798–1839)

I bought this book at a book fair at the local historical society where I donated some books. I was delighted to find this book just as it started to rain. They were not prepared for the change in weather and unfortunately many books did not survive the afternoon. The nice woman who managed the book end of the fair was apparently not as wild about books as I am, or to be fair, not in exactly the same way.
“Wouldn’t you like a nice, dry book?” she asked me. “There are some with pretty pictures over there.”
“I want this one,” I replied.
“Are you sure? It’s wet.”

It took me some time to start reading the book since I had other books I was reading and needed to put my brain into a different mode for the early 1800s. That said though, the writing is beautiful and simple, and William Apess is eloquent in his defense of his “bretheren” without becoming too sappy. He was rather generous, I thought, on his assessment of the treatment of Native Americans by the European colonists and their descendants, although he clearly states over and over again that the white men, and in particular the Christian white men, should be ashamed of their actions.
Barry O’Connell does a very nice job of explaining, with minimal footnotes, what needs to be explained, and adds his own findings that for the most part support William Apess’ version of historical events. Minor points that William Apess confuses (such as the difference between Pilgrims and Puritans) can be forgiven since most Americans, unless they have a great interest in the subject, can’t keep it straight either.
O’Connell draws on much-respected works of Laurel Ulrich and Colin Calloway to name two of my favorites that I am familiar with. He provides comparisons of different editions of Apess’ work in the back of the book where it is not a distraction, but was of great interest to me.
On page 313 O’Connell states that he likes to leave the text as close to the original as possible but this is after he says that he has corrected spelling and added punctuation. This is always a concern with historical primary documents as Lynn Truss’s book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves illustrated so perfectly, that meaning can be changed with the addition or subtraction of a comma.
At some point, historical and cultural change took place from two separate and distinct cultures living in close proximity to the current situation. Before the present patchwork arrangement of reservations and sovereign lands, incidents large and small sparked friction and perpetual mistrust of the other side. Apess provides eye-opening statistics about the large percentage of Native American Veterans and their pride in their service to their country, even in the Revolution, a fact that stands today still.
If you can slide into the vernacular of the day, curl up with this account of events, first-hand as in the case of the Mashpee Revolt, or as they believed it to be in the Eulogy on King Philip. These events were close enough in time to take in the documents of the day as well as the as-yet undestroyed oral traditions. History has all but forgotten William Apess- all that he left behind are his writings and his portrait. He defended his neighbors and suffered for it so he deserves to be remembered, respected, and honored. Barry O’Connell has given us a wonderful work to keep for future generations. I’ll try to keep my copy inside where it’s dry.… (plus d'informations)