Indians in the United States and Canada: A Comparative History

Historical Journal of Massachusetts, Winter 2003 by Strobel, Christoph

Roger Nichols, Indians in the United States and Canada: Comparative History (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1998).

After over 500 years of Indian-white relations in the Western Hemisphere, indigenous peoples all over the Americas have encountered many similar developments. This observation seems especially valid for the native peoples of Canada and the United States. Although the experiences of the culturally diverse Native American societies in both countries varies widely throughout time and place, indigenous North Americans still faced many similar economic, demographic, political, and cultural challenges. Indians and Europeans in the two countries' histories of colonization both established often mutually beneficial trade relations and sought political alliances. Eventually, these developments led to Native American marginality and dependency. However, throughout the twentieth century in both the United States and in Canada, several Native American societies have regained cultural strength. Today, in their political activism, both Canadian and American Indians share and work towards many of the same objectives such as tribal sovereignty and self-determination. Furthermore, particularly in the last few decades, both countries' first peoples have demonstrated an acute awareness of their common struggles.

Still, despite all these similarities there exists surprisingly little comparative work on the Indian peoples of the two nations. Thus, Roger Nichols' Indians in the United States and Canada: A Comparative History breaks exciting new ground and provides scholars and interested lay people with a long needed introductory study. Nichols provides a well-researched and clearly written comparative narrative that offers many insights into the history of Indian-white relations in Canada and the United States. This book also does an excellent job in underscoring the complexity of cultures and processes that occurred in the two countries. Like any good comparative historian, Nichols demonstrates the similarities of developments in the two countries, but also leaves room to explain the differences.

However, Nichols' monograph would have benefited from a stricter comparative organizational structure. He presents five different stages of intercultural relations in the introduction of his book argues that his study first examines "tribal independence, or even supremacy over the Europeans." Nichols then observes "a gradual shift to Indian-white equality; the reduction of the tribes to a position of dependency on the colonial or national government in each region; the further descent of Indian peoples to marginality at the fringes of the majority of society; and for some, a resurgence of cultural nationalism, economic recovery, and political awareness and influences." (XIV) Rather than using this comparative structure, however, the book presents a conventional narrative account of the expansion of the American and Canadian frontiers.

Still the range of Nichols book is impressive and conveys an excellent overview of the changing position of Native peoples in American and Canadian history. It will appeal to both the specialist and the novice, as well as to those instructors who are interested in including a more cross-national perspective into their Native American history courses. Nichols underscores that his book is intended to spur other comparative studies of the experiences of Native Americans in the United States and Canada. (XVII) One can only hope that more scholars will be inspired by this call.

Christoph Strobel

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Amherst, Massachusetts