Bøger af Robert F. Berkhofer

"A compelling and definitive history...of racist preconceptions in white behavior toward native Americans."—Leo Marx, The New York Times Book ReviewColumbus called them "Indians" because his geography was faulty. But that name and, more important, the images it has come to suggest have endured for five centuries, not only obscuring the true identity of the original Americans but serving as an ideological weapon in their subjugation. Now, in this brilliant and deeply disturbing reinterpretation of the American past, Robert Berkhofer has written an impressively documented account of the self-serving stereotypes Europeans and white Americans have concocted about the "Indian": Noble Savage or bloodthirsty redskin, he was deemed inferior in the light of western, Christian civilization and manipulated to its benefit. A thought-provoking and revelatory study of the absolute, seemingly ineradicable pervasiveness of white racism, The White Man''s Indian is a truly important book which penetrates to the very heart of our understanding of ourselves. "A splendid inquiry into, and analysis of, the process whereby white adventurers and the white middle class fabricated the Indian to their own advantage. It deserves a wide and thoughtful readership."—Chronicle of Higher Education

The great, pre-Civil War attempt of Protestant missionaries to Christianize Native Americans is found by Robert F. The ultimate outcome, when the Civil War brought most of the missions to an end, was only a nominal conversion of Native Americans, despite the unflagging optimism of missionaries struggling against cultural barriers.

?An excellent job of review and appraisal. His bibliographicall essay is a tribute to his scholarship....This book is an important study of a vital aspect of Indian-white relationships.?-Journal of American History

What legitimate form can history take when faced by the severe challenges issued in recent years by literary, rhetorical, multiculturalist, and feminist theories? That is the question considered in this pathbreaking book. Robert Berkhofer addresses the essential practical concern of contemporary historians.