Tribes & Tribulations: Misconceptions about American Indians and Their Histories

Most Americans are misinformed about Native Americans and their history. In the nine essays in this volume, Laurence M. Hauptman draws on 25 years of teaching American Indian history, selecting topics from the seventeenth century to the present as examples of some commonly held but erroneous views on Indian-white relations. These essays discuss campaigns to pacify and Christianize Indians, policies of removal, and stereotypes of Indians as mascots for sports teams or Hollywood film sidekicks. Hauptman's knowledgeable and provocative analysis strips away wrong notions and replaces them with new insights and perspectives.