Sand Creek And The Tragic End Of A Lifeway

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Sand Creek and the Tragic End of a Lifeway

Author : Louis Kraft
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806166924
Total Pages : 449 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis Sand Creek and the Tragic End of a Lifeway by : Louis Kraft

Download or read book Sand Creek and the Tragic End of a Lifeway written by Louis Kraft and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2020-03-12 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Western Heritage Award, Best Western Nonfiction Book, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum Nothing can change the terrible facts of the Sand Creek Massacre. The human toll of this horrific event and the ensuing loss of a way of life have never been fully recounted until now. In Sand Creek and the Tragic End of a Lifeway, Louis Kraft tells this story, drawing on the words and actions of those who participated in the events at this critical time. The history that culminated in the end of a lifeway begins with the arrival of Algonquin-speaking peoples in North America, proceeds through the emergence of the Cheyennes and Arapahos on the Central Plains, and ends with the incursion of white people seeking land and gold. Beginning in the earliest days of the Southern Cheyennes, Kraft brings the voices of the past to bear on the events leading to the brutal murder of people and its disastrous aftermath. Through their testimony and their deeds as reported by contemporaries, major and supporting players give us a broad and nuanced view of the discovery of gold on Cheyenne and Arapaho land in the 1850s, followed by the land theft condoned by the U.S. government. The peace treaties and perfidy, the unfolding massacre and the investigations that followed, the devastating end of the Indians’ already-circumscribed freedom—all are revealed through the eyes of government officials, newspapers, and the military; Cheyennes and Arapahos who sought peace with or who fought Anglo-Americans; whites and Indians who intermarried and their offspring; and whites who dared to question what they considered heinous actions. As instructive as it is harrowing, the history recounted here lives on in the telling, along with a way of life destroyed in all but cultural memory. To that memory this book gives eloquent, resonating voice.

Ned Wynkoop and the Lonely Road from Sand Creek

Author : Louis Kraft
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806189541
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis Ned Wynkoop and the Lonely Road from Sand Creek by : Louis Kraft

Download or read book Ned Wynkoop and the Lonely Road from Sand Creek written by Louis Kraft and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2013-02-14 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Edward W. Wynkoop arrived in Colorado Territory during the 1858 gold rush, he was one of many ambitious newcomers seeking wealth in a promising land mostly inhabited by American Indians. After he worked as a miner, sheriff, bartender, and land speculator, Wynkoop’s life drastically changed after he joined the First Colorado Volunteers to fight for the Union during the Civil War. This sympathetic but critical biography centers on his subsequent efforts to prevent war with Indians during the volatile 1860s. A central theme of Louis Kraft’s engaging narrative is Wynkoop’s daring in standing up to Anglo-Americans and attempting to end the 1864 Indian war. The Indians may have been dangerous enemies obstructing “progress,” but they were also human beings. Many whites thought otherwise, and at daybreak on November 29, 1864, the Colorado Volunteers attacked Black Kettle’s sleeping camp. Upon learning of the disaster now known as the Sand Creek Massacre, Wynkoop was appalled and spoke out vehemently against the action. Many of his contemporaries damned his views, but Wynkoop devoted the rest of his career as a soldier and then as a U.S. Indian agent to helping Cheyennes and Arapahos to survive. The tribes’ lifeways still centered on the dwindling herds of buffalo, but now they needed guns to hunt. Kraft reveals how hard Wynkoop worked to persuade the Indian Bureau to provide the tribes with firearms along with their allotments of food and clothing—a hard sell to a government bent on protecting white settlers and paving the way for American expansion. In the wake of Sand Creek, Wynkoop strove to prevent General Winfield Scott Hancock from destroying a Cheyenne-Sioux village in 1867, only to have the general ignore him and start a war. Fearing more innocent people would die, Wynkoop resigned from the Indian Bureau but, not long thereafter, receded into obscurity. Now, thanks to Louis Kraft, we may appreciate Wynkoop as a man of conscience who dared to walk between Indians and Anglo-Americans but was often powerless to prevent the tragic consequences of their conflict.

The Sand Creek Massacre

Author : Stan Hoig
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806187123
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis The Sand Creek Massacre by : Stan Hoig

Download or read book The Sand Creek Massacre written by Stan Hoig and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2013-02-27 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sometimes called "The Chivington Massacre" by those who would emphasize his responsibility for the attack and "The Battle of Sand Creek" by those who would imply that it was not a massacre, this event has become one of our nation’s most controversial Indian conflicts. The subject of army and Congressional investigations and inquiries, a matter of vigorous newspaper debates, the object of much oratory and writing biased in both directions, the Sand Creek Massacre very likely will never be completely and satisfactorily resolved. This account of the massacre investigates the historical events leading to the battle, tracing the growth of the Indian-white conflict in Colorado Territory. The author has shown the way in which the discontent stemming from the treaty of Fort Wise, the depredations committed by the Cheyennes and Arapahoes prior to the massacre, and the desire of some of the commanding officers for a bloody victory against the Indians laid the groundwork for the battle at Sand Creek.

Sand Creek and the Tragic End of a Lifeway

Author : Louis Kraft
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806166703
Total Pages : 565 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis Sand Creek and the Tragic End of a Lifeway by : Louis Kraft

Download or read book Sand Creek and the Tragic End of a Lifeway written by Louis Kraft and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2020-03-12 with total page 565 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Western Heritage Award, Best Western Nonfiction Book, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum Nothing can change the terrible facts of the Sand Creek Massacre. The human toll of this horrific event and the ensuing loss of a way of life have never been fully recounted until now. In Sand Creek and the Tragic End of a Lifeway, Louis Kraft tells this story, drawing on the words and actions of those who participated in the events at this critical time. The history that culminated in the end of a lifeway begins with the arrival of Algonquin-speaking peoples in North America, proceeds through the emergence of the Cheyennes and Arapahos on the Central Plains, and ends with the incursion of white people seeking land and gold. Beginning in the earliest days of the Southern Cheyennes, Kraft brings the voices of the past to bear on the events leading to the brutal murder of people and its disastrous aftermath. Through their testimony and their deeds as reported by contemporaries, major and supporting players give us a broad and nuanced view of the discovery of gold on Cheyenne and Arapaho land in the 1850s, followed by the land theft condoned by the U.S. government. The peace treaties and perfidy, the unfolding massacre and the investigations that followed, the devastating end of the Indians’ already-circumscribed freedom—all are revealed through the eyes of government officials, newspapers, and the military; Cheyennes and Arapahos who sought peace with or who fought Anglo-Americans; whites and Indians who intermarried and their offspring; and whites who dared to question what they considered heinous actions. As instructive as it is harrowing, the history recounted here lives on in the telling, along with a way of life destroyed in all but cultural memory. To that memory this book gives eloquent, resonating voice.

Lt. Charles Gatewood and His Apache Wars Memoir

Author : Charles B. Gatewood
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
ISBN 13 : 0803227728
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (32 download)

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Book Synopsis Lt. Charles Gatewood and His Apache Wars Memoir by : Charles B. Gatewood

Download or read book Lt. Charles Gatewood and His Apache Wars Memoir written by Charles B. Gatewood and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Realizing that he had more experience dealing with Native peoples than other lieutenants serving on the frontier, Gatewood decided to record his experiences. Although he died before he completed his project, the work he left behind remains an important firsthand account of his life as a commander of Apache scouts and as a military commandant of the White Mountain Indian Reservation. Louis Kraft presents Gatewood's previously unpublished account, punctuating it with an introduction, additional text that fills in the gaps in Gatewood's narrative, detailed notes, and an epilogue."--BOOK JACKET.

Gatewood and Geronimo

Author : Louis Kraft
Publisher : UNM Press
ISBN 13 : 9780826321305
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (213 download)

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Book Synopsis Gatewood and Geronimo by : Louis Kraft

Download or read book Gatewood and Geronimo written by Louis Kraft and published by UNM Press. This book was released on 2000-06 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Parallels the lives of Gatewood and Geronimo as events drive them toward their historic meeting in Mexico in 1886--a meeting that marked the beginning of the end of the last Apache war.

The Three Battles of Sand Creek

Author : Gregory Michno
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 1611213126
Total Pages : 212 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (112 download)

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Book Synopsis The Three Battles of Sand Creek by : Gregory Michno

Download or read book The Three Battles of Sand Creek written by Gregory Michno and published by . This book was released on 2017-02-15 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sand Creek Battle, or Massacre, occurred on November 29-30, 1864, a confrontation between Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians and Colorado volunteer soldiers. The affair was a tragic event in American history, and what occurred there continues to be hotly contested. Indeed, labeling it a “battle” or a “massacre” will likely start an argument before any discussion on the merits even begins. Even questions about who owns the story, and how it should be told, are up for debate. Many questions arise whenever Sand Creek is discussed: were the Indians peaceful? Did they hold white prisoners? Were they under army protection? Were excessive numbers of women and children killed, and were bodies mutilated? Did the Indians fly an American flag? Did the chiefs die stoically in front of their tipis? Were white scalps found in the village? Three hearings were conducted, and there seems to be an overabundance of evidence from which to answer these and other questions. Unfortunately, the evidence only muddies the issues. Award-winning Indian Wars author Gregory Michno divides his study into three sections. The first, “In Blood,” details the events of November 29 and 30, 1864, in what is surely the most comprehensive account published to date. The second section, “In Court,” focuses on the three investigations into the affair, illustrates some of the biases involved, and presents some of the contradictory testimony. The third and final section, “The End of History,” shows the utter impossibility of sorting fact from fiction. Using Sand Creek as well as contemporary examples, Michno examines the evidence of eyewitnesses—all of whom were subject to false memories, implanted memories, leading questions, prejudice, self-interest, motivated reasoning, social, cultural, and political mores, an over-active amygdala, and a brain that had a “mind” of its own—obstacles that make factual accuracy an illusion. Living in a postmodern world of relativism suggests that all history is subject to the fancies and foibles of individual bias. The example of Sand Creek illustrates why we may be witnessing “the end of history.” Studying Sand Creek exposes our prejudices because facts will not change our minds—we invent them in our memories, we are poor eyewitnesses, we follow the leader, we are slaves to our preconceptions, and assuredly we never let truth get in the way of what we already think, feel, or even hope. We do not believe what we see; instead, we see what we believe. Michno’s extensive research includes primary and select secondary studies, including recollections, archival accounts, newspapers, diaries, and other original records. The Three Battles of Sand Creek will take its place as the definitive account of this previously misunderstood, and tragic, event.

Contest for California

Author : Stephen G. Hyslop
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806166142
Total Pages : 449 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis Contest for California by : Stephen G. Hyslop

Download or read book Contest for California written by Stephen G. Hyslop and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2019-07-23 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: California’s early history was both colorful and turbulent. After Europeans first explored the region in the sixteenth century, it was conquered and colonized by successive waves of adventurers and settlers. In Contest for California, award-winning author Stephen G. Hyslop draws on a wide array of primary sources to weave an elegant narrative of this epic struggle for control of the territory that many saw as a beautiful, sprawling land of promise. In vivid detail, Hyslop traces the story of early California from its founding in 1769 by Spanish colonists to its annexation in 1848 by the United States. He describes the motivations and activities of colonizers and colonized alike. Using eyewitness accounts, he allows all participants—Native American, Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American—to have their say. Soldiers, settlers, missionaries, and merchants testify to the heroic and commonplace, the colorful and tragic, in California’s pre-American history. Even as he acknowledges the dark side of this story, Hyslop avoids a simplistic perspective. Moving beyond the polarities that have marked late-twentieth-century California historiography, he offers nuanced portraits of such controversial figures as Junípero Serra and treats the Californios and their distinctive Hispanic culture with a respect lacking in earlier histories. Attentive to tensions within the invading groups—priests and the military during the Spanish era, merchants and settlers during the American era—he also never loses sight of their impact on the original inhabitants of the region: California’s Native peoples. He also recounts the journeys of colonists from Russia, England, and other countries who influenced the development of California as it passed from the hands of Spaniards and Mexicans to Americans. Exhaustively researched yet concise, this book offers a much-needed alternative history of early California and its evolution from Spanish colony to American territory.

Dodge City

Author : William B. Shillingberg
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 440 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (319 download)

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Book Synopsis Dodge City by : William B. Shillingberg

Download or read book Dodge City written by William B. Shillingberg and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most famous cattle town of the trail-driving era, Dodge City, Kansas, holds a special allure for western historians and enthusiasts alike. Wm. B. Shillingberg now goes beyond the violence for which the town became notorious, more fully documenting its early history by uncovering the economic, political, and social forces that shaped Dodge. The author cuts through legend and myth to depict a Dodge City that few people really know. He takes readers back to the southwestern Kansas frontier and traces a town's evolution from a military site for protecting Santa Fe commerce, to a wild and lawless buffalo hunters' rendezvous, to a regional freighting center and the primary shipping point for Texas cattle on the central plains. Amid all this activity a community sprang up in 1872 and was still stumbling toward maturity fourteen years later when the great herds no longer came. Shillingberg describes this transformation of place and purpose, along with its attendant political machinations and business fervor, revealing singular personalities, social turmoil, and a local economy in flux. Along the way, the book offers new perspectives on the Battle of Adobe Walls, the constant maneuvering of railroad moguls and cattle barons, and the exploits of such legendary figures as Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, from city records to personal papers, Dodge City: The Early Years, 1872-1886 surpasses previous accounts of the town by depicting complex individuals and events in greater depth and detail. It shows us a community concerned with more than brothels, saloons, and gunplay. It will stand as the authoritative history of this quintessential western town.

I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die

Author : Sarah J. Robinson
Publisher : WaterBrook
ISBN 13 : 0593193539
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (931 download)

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Book Synopsis I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die by : Sarah J. Robinson

Download or read book I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die written by Sarah J. Robinson and published by WaterBrook. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.

The Second Colorado Cavalry

Author : Christopher M. Rein
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806166681
Total Pages : 396 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis The Second Colorado Cavalry by : Christopher M. Rein

Download or read book The Second Colorado Cavalry written by Christopher M. Rein and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2020-02-13 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Civil War, the Second Colorado Volunteer Regiment played a vital and often decisive role in the fight for the Union on the Great Plains—and in the westward expansion of the American empire. Christopher M. Rein’s The Second Colorado Cavalry is the first in-depth history of this regiment operating at the nexus of the Civil War and the settlement of the American West. Composed largely of footloose ’59ers who raced west to participate in the gold rush in Colorado, the troopers of the Second Colorado repelled Confederate invasions in New Mexico and Indian Territory before wading into the Burned District along the Kansas border, the bloodiest region of the guerilla war in Missouri. In 1865, the regiment moved back out onto the plains, applying what it had learned to peacekeeping operations along the Santa Fe Trail, thus definitively linking the Civil War and the military conquest of the American West in a single act of continental expansion. Emphasizing the cavalry units, whose mobility proved critical in suppressing both Confederate bushwhackers and Indian raiders, Rein tells the neglected tale of the “fire brigade” of the Trans-Mississippi Theater—a group of men, and a few women, who enabled the most significant environmental shift in the Great Plains’ history: the displacement of Native Americans by Euro-American settlers, the swapping of bison herds for fenced cattle ranges, and the substitution of iron horses for those of flesh and bone. The Second Colorado Cavalry offers us a much-needed history of the “guerilla hunters” who helped suppress violence and keep the peace in contested border regions; it adds nuance and complexity to our understanding of the unlikely “agents of empire” who successfully transformed the Central Plains.

Placing Memory

Author : Todd Stewart
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 146 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Placing Memory by : Todd Stewart

Download or read book Placing Memory written by Todd Stewart and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Placing Mnnory is a powerful visual record of the internment. Featuring Todd Stewart's stunning color photographs of the sites as they appear today, the book is not only an aesthetic tour de force. It also provides a rigorous visual survey of the physical features of the camps - roads, architectural remains, and monuments - along with maps, statistical information, and archival photographs. Stewart's haunting photographs take us to places such as Heart Mountain, Minidoka, Gila River, and Manzanar, which, although abandoned for fifty years, still convey the unmistakable presence of the thousands interned. Also included in this volume - juxtaposed with Stewart's modern-day images - are the black-and-white photographs commissioned during the 1940s by the War Relocation Authority. Thoughtful essays by Asian American studies scholar Karen J, Leong, photography curator Natasha Egan, and community leader - and former internee - John Tateishi provide provocative context for all the photographs." "Placing Memory makes a powerful statement about racial intolerance and injustice. It is a lasting record of a regrettable program and a poignant meditation on the importance of commemorating injustice."--BOOK JACKET.

Tulsa, 1921

Author : Randy Krehbiel
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806165510
Total Pages : 278 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis Tulsa, 1921 by : Randy Krehbiel

Download or read book Tulsa, 1921 written by Randy Krehbiel and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2019-09-19 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1921 Tulsa’s Greenwood District, known then as the nation’s “Black Wall Street,” was one of the most prosperous African American communities in the United States. But on May 31 of that year, a white mob, inflamed by rumors that a young Black man had attempted to rape a white teenage girl, invaded Greenwood. By the end of the following day, thousands of homes and businesses lay in ashes, and perhaps as many as three hundred people were dead. Tulsa, 1921 shines new light into the shadows that have long been cast over this extraordinary instance of racial violence. With the clarity and descriptive power of a veteran journalist, author Randy Krehbiel digs deep into the events and their aftermath and investigates decades-old questions about the local culture at the root of what one writer has called a white-led pogrom. Krehbiel analyzes local newspaper accounts in an unprecedented effort to gain insight into the minds of contemporary Tulsans. In the process he considers how the Tulsa World, the Tulsa Tribune, and other publications contributed to the circumstances that led to the disaster and helped solidify enduring white justifications for it. Some historians have dismissed local newspapers as too biased to be of value for an honest account, but by contextualizing their reports, Krehbiel renders Tulsa’s papers an invaluable resource, highlighting the influence of news media on our actions in the present and our memories of the past. The Tulsa Massacre was a result of racial animosity and mistrust within a culture of political and economic corruption. In its wake, Black Tulsans were denied redress and even the right to rebuild on their own property, yet they ultimately prevailed and even prospered despite systemic racism and the rise during the 1920s of the second Ku Klux Klan. As Krehbiel considers the context and consequences of the violence and devastation, he asks, Has the city—indeed, the nation—exorcised the prejudices that led to this tragedy?

Dog Soldier Justice

Author :
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
ISBN 13 : 9780803222885
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (228 download)

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Book Synopsis Dog Soldier Justice by :

Download or read book Dog Soldier Justice written by and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his study of the civilian population that fell victim to the brutality of the 1860s Kansas Indian wars, Jeff Broome recounts the captivity of Susanna Alderdice, who was killed along with three of her children by her Cheyenne captors (known as Dog Soldiers) at the Battle of Summit Springs in July 1869, and of her four-year-old son, who was wounded then left for dead.

California Through Russian Eyes, 1806–1848

Author : James R. Gibson
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 080615098X
Total Pages : 507 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis California Through Russian Eyes, 1806–1848 by : James R. Gibson

Download or read book California Through Russian Eyes, 1806–1848 written by James R. Gibson and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2013-10-23 with total page 507 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early nineteenth century, Russia established a colony in California that lasted until the Russian-American Company sold Fort Ross and Bodega Bay to John Sutter in 1841. This annotated collection of Russian accounts of Alta California, many of them translated here into English from Russian for the first time, presents richly detailed impressions by visiting Russian mariners, scientists, and Russian-American Company officials regarding the environment, people, economy, and politics of the province. Gathered from Russian archival collections and obscure journals, these testimonies represent a major contribution to the little-known history of Russian America. Well educated and curious, the visiting Russians were acute observers, generous in their appreciation of Hispanic hospitality but outspoken in their criticisms of all they found backward or abhorrent. In the various reports and reminiscences contained within this volume, they make astute observations of both Hispanic and Native inhabitants, describing the Catholic missions with their devout friars and neophyte workers; the corruptible Franciscan missionaries; the sorry plight of mission Indians; the Californios themselves, whose religion, language, dwellings, cuisine, dress, and pastimes were novel to the Russians; the economic and social changes in Alta California following Mexican independence; and the schemes of American traders and settlers to draw the province into the United States. Amplified by James R. Gibson’s informative annotations, and featuring a gallery of elegant color illustrations, this unique volume casts new light on the history of Spanish and Mexican California.

Ruling the Waters

Author : Douglas R. Littlefield
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806166746
Total Pages : 405 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis Ruling the Waters by : Douglas R. Littlefield

Download or read book Ruling the Waters written by Douglas R. Littlefield and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2020-03-19 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Europeans first arrived at what is now California’s San Joaquin Valley, they found a vast landscape of wetlands, small ponds, riparian forests, and grasslands surrounding three large swampland lakes. What greets a visitor to the region today is a dramatically different view of mile after mile of row crops, vineyards, orchards, and grazing acreage—some of the most fertile and productive agricultural land in the world. This remarkable transformation, with its enduring consequences, is at the center of Ruling the Waters, a legal, social, and environmental history of how western water law shaped, and was shaped by, the subjugation of the largest freshwater wetlands wildlife habitat in the West. At the heart of efforts to wrest arable land from the region was the Kern River, which rises in the Sierra Nevada and carries snowmelt to what was once a great network of lakes, sloughs, and marshes at the southern end of California’s Central Valley. In Ruling the Waters Douglas R. Littlefield describes how, over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, pioneers and entrepreneurs diverted water out of this network of waterways to extract gold in the mountains and irrigate farms lower down the river, and how the law was made to accommodate these practices. Struggles over the Kern River’s water established one of the most important concepts in water law in some parts of the United States—that prior appropriation, dependent on the chronological order of diversions from waterways, could legally coexist with riparian rights, which restrict water usage to landownership directly next to a river or stream. Littlefield traces this concept to the 1886 California Supreme Court case of Lux v. Haggin—which pitted the giant farming and cattle company of Miller & Lux against a prominent land baron, James B. Haggin—and shows how the lawsuit profoundly shaped future waters issues, which in turn influenced water laws in other western states that were grappling with similar questions. Far from a dry legal history, Ruling the Waters tells a story with world-wide historical environmental ramifications, a tale of competing personalities and values and visions that forever changed both the economy and the ecology of the American West.

In League Against King Alcohol

Author : Thomas J. Lappas
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806166630
Total Pages : 408 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis In League Against King Alcohol by : Thomas J. Lappas

Download or read book In League Against King Alcohol written by Thomas J. Lappas and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2020-02-13 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many Americans are familiar with the real, but repeatedly stereotyped problem of alcohol abuse in Indian country. Most know about the Prohibition Era and reformers who promoted passage of the Eighteenth Amendment, among them the members of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. But few people are aware of how American Indian women joined forces with the WCTU to press for positive change in their communities, a critical chapter of American cultural history explored in depth for the first time in In League Against King Alcohol. Drawing on the WCTU’s national records as well as state and regional organizational newspaper accounts and official state histories, historian Thomas John Lappas unearths the story of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in Indian country. His work reveals how Native American women in the organization embraced a type of social, economic, and political progress that their white counterparts supported and recognized—while maintaining distinctly Native elements of sovereignty, self-determination, and cultural preservation. They asserted their identities as Indigenous women, albeit as Christian and progressive Indigenous women. At the same time, through their mutual participation, white WCTU members formed conceptions about Native people that they subsequently brought to bear on state and local Indian policy pertaining to alcohol, but also on education, citizenship, voting rights, and land use and ownership. Lappas’s work places Native women at the center of the temperance story, showing how they used a women’s national reform organization to move their own goals and objectives forward. Subtly but significantly, they altered the welfare and status of American Indian communities in the early twentieth century.