International and Area Studies Commons^™

Review Of American Indians, The Irish, And Government Schooling: A Comparative Study By Michael C. Coleman, Katie Kane

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Michael Coleman's historical and comparative study represents the latest offering in a critical but still underdeveloped subfield of comparative colonialisms: Irish and Native American connections under the experience of colonization. The tradition of comparative work across the Atlantic Ocean, with its recognition of a fundamental similarity in the practical and ideological work of British and American colonialism in Ireland and Indian Country, has roots in the scholarship of such important intellectuals as Howard Mumford Jones (0 Strange New World! American Culture: The Formative Years), David Beers Quinn (The Elizabethans and the Irish), and Nicholas Canny ("The …

Review Of Beloved Women: The Political Lives Of Ladonna Harris And Wilma Mankiller By Sarah Eppler Janda, Robert E. England

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In Beloved Women, Sarah Eppler Janda offers an important and provocative analysis of the political lives of two American Indian leaders in Oklahoma and national politics. Janda uses primary documents, interviews, and secondary sources to examine the nexus between race (Indianness) and gender (feminism) and the acquisition and use of political power by LaDonna Harris and Wilma Mankiller.

Janda organizes the book into three parts. The first devotes two chapters to developing the primary constructs used in the study (image, identity, political activism, and the intersection of feminism and Indianness) for LaDonna Harris. Chapters 3 and 4 (part 2) …

Review Of American Windmills: An Album Of Historic Photographs. By T. Lindsay Baker, Jim Hoy

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

"I'm a lover and a fighter and a wild bull rider and a pretty fair kind of a windmill man," goes the old Plains-country brag. Along with barbed wire, windmills helped bring an end to the open range, and the cowboy had to add fence riding and windmill maintenance to his roping and riding skills. American Windmills, T. Lindsay Baker's latest volume on the topic of which he is the country's (and most likely the world's) leading authority, brought back a flood of memories as I turned its pages.

When I was growing up on a small Flint Hills …

Review Of Forty Years A Legislator: Elmer ThomasBy Elmer Thomas, Suzanne Jones Crawford

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Written between 1951 and 1954, this autobiography covers the career of Elmer Thomas as a state senator from 1907 to 1920, as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1922 to 1928, and as a U.S. senator from 1928 to 1950. Editors Richard Lowitt and Carolyn Hanneman deserve a hearty round of applause for having converted Thomas's original, meandering four-hundred-page-plus manuscript to an intelligible, readable work. Especially valuable to the reader are the editors' end notes, identifying figures and issues whose political significance has dimmed and offering suggestions for further reading.

Despite his popularity among Oklahoma Democrats …

Review Of Gall: Lakota War Chief By Robert W. Larson, Herman Viola

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Dubbed the "Fighting Cock of the Sioux" by the U.S. soldiers he confronted, the Hunkpapa warrior Gall has at last found his rightful place on the book shelves of Great Plains history. A major challenge for any biographer is the lack of primary source material about Gall's early life, a typical problem for anyone attempting a scholarly study about someone who flashes in and out of the historical record the way Gall does. Given the challenge he faced, Robert W. Larson has done a commendable job in compiling a plausible account of Gall's movements and actions before he took up …

Review Of Upstream Metropolis: An Urban Biography Of Omaha And Council Bluffs By Lawrence H. Larsen, Barbara J. Cottrell, Harl A. Dalstrom, And Kay Calame Dalstrom., Heather Fryer

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Upstream Metropolis is an "urban biography" of the "Omaha-Council Bluffs NE-IA Metropolitan Statistical Area," the nation's sixtieth most populous urban center in 2005. The life-story approach draws from an impressive array of local primary and secondary sources to bring depth, complexity, and an updated chronology to the literature on Omaha's development.

Omaha-Council Bluff's childhood, familiar to many readers, was marked by rapid growth as railroad money, meatpacking plants, and a multiethnic laboring population made their way to the improvised settlements in the 1830s- 40s. As with most youngsters, the settlements showed glimmers of potential eclipsed by a need for discipline …

Review Of Rosie Sandifer: Language Of Art. By Rosie Sandifer., Peter S. Briggs

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Painter and sculptor Rosie Sandifer, native of Lubbock, Texas, past resident of Colorado, arid present resident of New Mexico, penned her own memoir, "Language of Art," the principal text of this book. Her modest eight-page autobiography skips from chronological outline to assessment of favored artists, teachers, and museums, to appreciation for parental lessons which, in the author's words, inspired her "discipline, drive, and direction." Two shorter opening essays by Tuck Langland, a sculptor, and Robin Salmon, curator of sculpture at Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina, carefully guide Sandifer into her artistic niche as a figurative sculptor. There is no independent …

Review Of White Man's Club: Schools, Race, And The Struggle Of Indian Acculturation By Jacqueline Fear-Segal, Michael C. Coleman

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

So many studies have been published on nineteenth-century U.S. government Indian schools that I initially wondered about the need for another. (My book has been published in the same series as that under review). Jacqueline Fear-Segal, senior lecturer in American history at the University of East Anglia, England, acknowledges her debt to this literature. Yet she validly insists on the importance of her contribution. Believing that previous studies have not "fully unpacked" issues of race, Fear-Segal contrasts the overt egalitarian rhetoric of white educators with what she sees as covert racist agendas, while probing the complex responses of Indian children …

Review Of Alberta Art And Artists: An Overview By Patricia Ainslie And Mary-Beth Laviolette, Leslie Dawn

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Alberta Art and Artists is a modest book with large ambitions. It is first and foremost an introduction to the historic and contemporary visual arts within the western Canadian province. But it is also a declaration that this art supports a "confident difference," a unique provincial identity that distinguishes it from other regions.

The two authors are well positioned to undertake the volume's double task. Patricia Ainslie, who served as curator and vice president of collections at the Glenbow Museum and Archives in Calgary, contributes two historical sections. Following a sampling of First Nations productions, she directs the reader to …

Review Of Texas Quilts And Quilters: A Lone Star Legacy By Marcia Kaylakie With Janice Whittington, Virginia Gunn

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

This beautiful book showcases thirty-four Texas quilts, selected by Marcia Kaylakie from the hundreds she saw in public and private collections during a decade of documenting quilts throughout the state of Texas. It is a visual delight that adds to the body of work on Texas quilts and quiltmakers. Marion Ann Montgomery's foreword helps set the book in context. Janice Whittington worked with Kaylakie to shape the interesting human stories behind the quilts. We learn that a simple Dutch Doll quilt became known as "The Sick Quilt," as a mother entertained her ill children with stories about each doll. We …

Review Of Policing The Great Plains: Rangers, Mounties, And The North American Frontier, 1875-1910 By Andrew R. Graybill, Michael Hogue

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

At opposite ends of the Great Plains, the North-West Mounted Police and the Texas Rangers emerged in the mid-1870s as key instruments in the extension of state power over distant frontiers. Policing the Great Plains reveals how these famous rural constabularies implemented policies designed in Ottawa and Austin to promote the settlement and economic development of the Great Plains. Andrew Graybill argues that these shared political and economic goals ensured that Mounties and Rangers, despite their many differences, helped bring about strikingly similar transformations in Texas and the Canadian Prairies.

By placing Mounties and Rangers in this common history of …

Review Of New Indians, Old Wars By Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Bruce E. Johansen

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In New Indians, Old Wars, Elizabeth CookLynn delivers a sometimes scorching critique not only of the United States' pursuit of colonization through warfare (comparing it, in Iraq, to the Plains Indian wars), but also of superficial thinking and fuzzy argumentation that prevents scholars of Native American Studies from drawing a tight focus on the central issues of their discipline.

Cook-Lynn, professor emerita of Native American Studies at Eastern Washington University, argues that the central focus of study in Native law, history, and literature should be colonialism and exploitation of resources. Hailing from a warrior family that reaches to the Battle …

Review Of The Cherokee Trail Of Tears Essay By Duane King, James W. Parins

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Although the Cherokees were among a great number of Indian nations from all over the eastern half of the United States to be forced from their homeland by the 1830 Removal Act, in the popular imagination the term "Trail of Tears" refers to the exodus from their homes in present-day North Carolina, Tennessee, northern Alabama, and Georgia. In the decade before passage of the Removal Act, the Cherokees took defensive action, organizing their government along the lines of the American republic, and embracing some of the trappings of white civilization. However, this strategy failed; the Cherokees were left to follow …

Review Of Lakotas, Black Robes, And Holy Women: German Reports From The Indian Missions In South Dakota, 1886-1900 Edited By Karl Markus Kreis, Joshua M. Rice

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The literature on Native American dispossession grows with every year, and there are times when the historiography of the American West seems in danger of becoming repetitive. Lakotas, Black Robes, and Holy Women addresses this problem by revealing untapped sources and new perspectives on the West as the Great Plains increasingly fell under US. control.

This monograph focuses on the Catholic missions in South Dakota-the Holy Rosary Mission on the Pine Ridge Reservation and the St. Francis Mission on the adjoining Rosebud Reservation-during the critical years of 1886-1900. Staffed by a handful of Jesuits and Franciscan sisters, many of whom …

Review Of Marking The Land: Jim Dow In North Dakota Photographs And Narrative By Jim Dow, Robert Silberman

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

It may not take special powers of observation to notice the sixty-ton concrete bison next to the interstate on the outskirts of Jamestown, North Dakota. But knowing how to photograph such a subject well demands skill-and Jim Dow has what it takes. Discovering the beauty of a giant coal-mining shovel or the brushwork pattern behind a stenciled "Going Out of Business" notice does require a sharp eye, and he has that, too. Originally invited by Laurel Reuter of the North Dakota Museum of Art to photograph folk art in the landscape in the early 1980s, Dow, during visits in 2000 …

Reviews Of Hunger For The Wild: America's Obsession With The Untamed West By Michael L. Johnson And Frontiers: A Short History Of The American West By Robert V. Hine And John Mack Faragher, Karl Jacoby

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Whither the grand narrative in historical scholarship? For years, critics have cautioned us that narratives are, in Hayden White's words, little more than a form of "emplotment" whose order and coherence oversimplify the inherent messiness of the past. Yet the inconvenient fact remains that human beings are unparalleled storytelling creatures. Whether or not events occur in a narrative format, with a clear beginning, middle, and end, we tend to perceive them in this way-and to relate them in this structure to one another.

Still, not all narratives are created equal. In keeping with the postmodern turn, historians have been increasingly …

Contradictory Subtexts In Willa Cather's O Pioneers! And Thomas Hardy's Far From The Madding Crowd, Grace Wetzel

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

An independent and strong-minded woman gains control of a farm and determines to effect its fruition. Though many doubt her capacity, the female landowner trumps her male counterparts when the farm flourishes under her effective management. In the end, she marries- but on extremely unconventional terms. Rejecting romantic love, she instead weds a devoted friend. Camaraderie hence privileged over passion, the novel ends. This summary outlines the story of not one but two major literary heroines-Bathsheba Everdene of Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) and Alexandra Bergson of Willa Cather's 0 Pioneers! (1913). Critics have analyzed these texts …

Jewish Community In Wichita, 1920-1970 Same Wagon, New Horses, Jay M. Price

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

For young Walter Katz, Wichita, Kansas, was a world away from his hometown of Jesberg, Germany. As the Third Reich consolidated power, the Katz family-mother, father, and three sons-decided to escape to the United States of America to make a new life among relatives near Stillwater, Oklahoma. With them came the Torah scroll from Jesberg's synagogue that Walter's brother had rescued from destruction. Although he had limited English skills and was unfamiliar with local customs, Walter found himself enrolled in school and on the local football team within weeks of his arrival. A few years later, Walter's cousin, Aaron Youngheim, …

Revolutionary Anniversaries

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Few Westerners will take note that this week it is time to celebrate Chinese revolutions. October 1 will be the 59th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (celebrated as National Day). Ten days later, on October 10, Taiwan celebrates its National Day (also known as Double Ten Day, and on its 97th go-round). On the mainland, Double Tens is used as an opportunity to commemorate the uprising that overthrew the Qing Dynasty, though not the Republic that followed it. Of course, which one you celebrate depends on location and political leaning, but either way early October …

China Annals: Interview With Antonia Finnane

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Antonia Finnane is Professor of Chinese History at the University of Melbourne, co-editor (with Anne McLaren) of Dress, Sex and Text in Chinese Culture (1999), and author of three books: Far From Where? Jewish Journeys from Shanghai to Australia (1999); Speaking of Yangzhou: A Chinese City, 1550-1850 (2004); andChanging Clothes in China: Fashion, History, Nation (2008). Read on for an interview with this prolific scholar and a review of her latest book.

Nicole Barnes: What first drew you to China studies?

Antonia Finnane: It’s hard to say, but the Cold War and the Vietnam War were probably factors. When I …

Coal Miner’S Daughter

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

One of the most recent targets of China’s self-appointed net detectives—practitioners of the pernicious phenomenon known as the “human flesh search” (ren rou sou sou)—is not an unfaithful husband, a kitten killer, or a Tibet-friendly Chinese student. Instead she is someone who is, supposedly, a comely young woman whose father owns a coal mine and who recently immigrated to Seattle, cash, flashy cars, and Louis Vuitton luggage in hand. Definitely not from Butcher Holler. And, as it turns out, a fake.

The human flesh searchers, who mete out internet justice and facilitate the harassment of those who fail their moral …

Interview With Lijia Zhang

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

On Iowa Public Radio’s “The Exchange” (follow that link to stream the mp3 recording). Zhang is currently a participant in the University of Iowa’sInternational Writing Program. She discusses her book, Socialism is Great!, her life experiences, and China in the late twentieth century (as well as her book as a possible gift for Sarah Palin).

Her most recent piece at China Beat is “Ode to the Communist Song.”

Coming Distractions: Speaking To History

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Paul A. Cohen, professor of history emeritus at Wellesley College and also an associate at the Harvard Fairbank Center, has long been interested in not justwhat happened but also how historians tell the stories of the past. As one of the strongest advocates for China-centered historical work, Cohen has explored this tension between history and its telling in works that sometimes reveal unknown stories and sometimes confound the traditional tellings of well-known historical events. These earlier works include China Unbound: Evolving Perspectives on the Chinese Past, History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth,China and Christianity, and …

Culture And Collapse Revisited, Pierre Fuller

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In May of this year I wagged a few fingers at British writer Simon Winchester for an op-ed piece he penned in the wake of Sichuan’s devastating quake. Appearing as it did both in the New York Times and in its global edition, the International Herald Tribune, his attempt at posing a supposedly quake-fit “West” or “America” against a Chinese people who had collectively all “turned their back” as early as the 16th century on science and construction know-how begged immediate comment.

I soon found myself in the bowels of the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies’ …

In Case You Missed It: Tibet Special, Part 3–Comments By Pico Iyer And Pankaj Mishra

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Continuing our series seeking to draw attention to overlooked readings on Tibet, we are happy to be able to provide comments by two long-time friends of the blog, Pico Iyer and Pankaj Mishra, talented and versatile writers whose most recent books are The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Beyond, respectively. It seemed particularly appropriate to ask Iyer and Mishra to suggest articles or books that they have found useful in thinking about Tibet but which might be under the radar of …

In Case You Missed It: Tibet Special, Part 2

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

This second piece in our ongoing series highlighting “In Case You Missed It” readings on Tibet, is devoted to reflections by Charlene Makley, a member of Reed College’s Anthropology Department. She was part of the same Boulder roundtable mentioned in our first post in the series, and she is the author of The Violence of Liberation: Gender and Tibetan Buddhist Revival in Post Mao China, published last year by the University of California Press in cloth and paperback editions.

Having just returned from a year in Tibetan regions of the PRC, I am not completely versed on the most recent …

Blog To Book: The China Beat Moves Into The Print World

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

This Self-Promotion Saturday will be the first of a series devoted to a book project:China in 2008: A Year of Great Significance. Rowman & Littlefield will be publishing it fairly early in 2009 and it will be edited by three people familiar to “China Beat” readers: Kate Merkel-Hess, Ken Pomeranz and Jeff Wasserstrom, all of whom are based at UC Irvine. Some of the content will also be familiar to “China Beat” readers, since the book will include material that first appeared on this site (though in some cases in an updated and expanded form). China in 2008 will also …

In Case You Missed It: Tibet Special, Part 1

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

It has now been six months since “China Beat” ran a series of reports about and suggested readings relating to the March unrest in Tibet. We thought this a fitting time to try to figure out what some of the best works out there are that deal with Tibet in general, not just a particular crisis involving the region and its people. So, we will be asking some people the following question: “Can you think of any particular article or book relating to Tibet that you wish more people had read?” We’ll run the answers periodically, as they come in. …

In Case You Missed It: The Thrill Of The Chase, Angilee Shah

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

My redeye flight from Singapore to Shanghai in August was timed purposefully before the Olympics ended, but my route was planned meticulously to avoid the big Olympics events.

Before the trip I likewise scoured the library of the Singapore school where I teach for fresh (or at least fresh to me) narratives on China–the kinds of simple but expansive journeys that unabashedly take young explorers “beyond the headlines” and spark awe-inspiring careers. I’d already read Peter Hessler’sOracle Bones and I was looking for more.

(My friend Anka was tasked with writing about life in China, and I was tasked with …

What Did The Cultural Revolution Look Like?

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Many people outside of China get their first ideas about the Cultural Revolution from reading memoirs or works of fiction that deal with the years 1966-1969 or the final decade of the Maoist era (1966-1976). It is also possible, though, to start to grapple with the meaning of that complex and traumatic period via its visual culture, and finding out about a new exhibit and a new online collection (new to me at least) has inspired this Top Five List. It includes some sites that have been mentioned before at China Beat, but seem worth referring to again.

1. The …