by Neil Schmitz

The Mesquakie peoples of present-day Iowa, historically know as the "Fox," are at the center of White Robe's Dilemma. An encounter with the French in the Great Lakes region, their original homeland, marked their first appearance in Euro-American history. Targeted for annihilation after they refused alliance with the French, they nevertheless endured, reappearing again and again in the records of the English and Americans as well as the French.

Over the years, the resistance of the Mesquakies has taken many forms--diplomatic and military, economic and cultural. They have rejected Christianity for the most part and ridiculed the many anthropologists who keep coming to study them. A substantial number have managed, unlike almost any other Indian group in the United States, to elude the reservation system by buying and maintaining their own settlement. Several have made important contributions to the literature in English by Indians, including Black Hawk of the confederate Sauk, William Jones, and Ray Young Bear.

In this intriguing study, Neil Schmitz imaginatively reconstructs and carefully analyzes the multiple legacies of the Mesquakie people. He shows how the complex story of their survival raises critical questions about the representation of Indians in American literature and history.

"Whether the subject is Black Hawk or Black Elk, about whom much has been written, or Ray Young Bear and Georges Sioui, about whom less has been written, Neil Schmitz's White Robe's Dilemma is consistently insightful and provocative. The book wears its theoretical sophistication with ease and grace, brings its extensive historical learning to bear in lively fashion, and navigates rough political waters on an even keel. Schmitz makes a very substantial contribution to what seems a nes and major stage of criticism for Native American literary expression. This is genuinely exciting work." --Arnold Krupat, Sarah Lawrence College

"This short volume is very long in its reach. It is a seminal book with which any serious scholar of American Indian literatures and histories will have to contend." --Barry O'Connell, editor of On Our Own Ground: The Complete Writings of William Apess, a Pequot

 

(from the book jacket)