The Iroquois Struggle for Survival - (Iroquois and Their Neighbors) by Laurence M Hauptman (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

From World War II onward, the Iroquois, one of the largest groups of Native Americans in North America, have confronted a series of crises threatening their continued existence.

From the New York-Pennsylvania border, where the Army Corps of Engineers engulfed a vast tract of Seneca homeland with the Kinzua Dam, from the ambition of Robert Moses and the New York State Power Authority to develop the hydroelectric power of the Niagara Frontier (which eroded the land base of the Tuscaroras), from the construction of the Saint Lawrence Seaway (which took land from the Mohawks and still affects their fishing industry), to the present-day battles over the Oneida land claims in New York State and the Onondaga efforts to repatriate their wampum--Laurence Hauptman documents the bitter struggles of proud people to maintain their independence and strength in the modern world.

Out of these battles came a renewed sense of Iroquois nationalism and nationwide Iroquois leadership in American Indian politics. Hauptman examines events leading to the emergence of the contemporary Iroquois, concluding with the takeover at Wounded Knee in the winter-spring of 1973 and the Supreme Court's Oneida decision in 1974. His research is based on historical documents, published materials, and interviews and fieldwork in every Iroquois community in the United States and several in Canada.

Review Quotes

A high-quality work. . . . Fresh research and a story that has not hitherto been told. . . . An important book and sound contribution to Iroquois history.-- "Barbara Graymont, author of The Iroquois in the American Revolution"

The book will undoubtedly become an important part of the growing literature on Iroquois history. It is also an example of successful incorporation of archival and oral source material.-- "The Canadian Review of American Studies"

This well-researched and sympathetic book will become the standard in contemporary Iroquoia and will be widely used . . . because of the important glimpses it offers of how and why policy took the course it did.-- "The Western Historical Quarterly"

About the Author

Lawrence M. Hauptman is Professor of History at the State University of New York College at New Paltz. He is the author of The Iroquois and the New Deal and co-editor of Neighbors and Intruders: An Ethno-historical Exploration of the Indians of Hudson's River. Professor Hauptman holds a Ph.D. in American History from New York University.