The Great Confusion in Indian Affairs: (book recommendation)

[Wetzelbill]

One of my professors, Tom Holm, wrote this book. He is a great guy, and this is an interesting topic. Highly recommend it. -Bill

The Great Confusion in Indian Affairs: Native Americans and Whites in the Progressive Era
by Tom Holm
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780292709621&itm=2

From the Publisher
This revisionist history reveals how Native Americans' sense of identity and "peoplehood" helped them resist and eventually defeat the U.S. government's attempts to assimilate them into white society during the Progressive Era (1890s-1920s). Tom Holm discusses how Native Americans, though effectively colonial subjects without political power, nonetheless maintained their group identity through their native languages, religious practices, works of art, and sense of homeland and sacred history. He also describes how Euro-Americans became increasingly fascinated by and supportive of Native American culture, spirituality, and environmental consciousness. In the face of such Native resiliency and non-Native advocacy, the government's assimilation policy became irrelevant and inevitably collapsed. The great confusion in Indian Affairs during the Progressive Era, Holm concludes, ultimately paved the way for Native American tribes to be recognized as nations with certain sovereign rights.


Synopsis
Some three decades later, Holm (American Indian studies, U. of Arizona) dusted off his 1978 doctoral dissertation in history at the University of Oklahoma and revised it from the perspective of what he has learned during his years in the field of American Indian studies. He explains that 1900 to 1920 was a period of ideological conflict and institutional confusion regarding Indian affairs that punctuated assimilation and created a philosophical void in policy making that would not be filled until the 1930s. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

[CountAllVotes]

1. sounds like an interesting book

Ask your professor if he knows of any books that deal with Indian children being adopted during this time period in the Louisiana/Texas/Arkansas area. It could help me greatly in my ongoing search.

In the meantime, this book sounds like a good resource for the era I am looking at (1890-1925).

Thank you.