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Cargando... Wau-Bun: The "Early Day" in the Northwest (1856)por Juliette M. Kinzie
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. Mrs. Kinzie (Juliette) was the wife of an Indian Agent to the Winnebagos in the early 1830s. She was a meticulous observer of frontier life in the upper mid-west. Providing great detail about the as yet undeveloped land, the natives and frontiersmen, their clothing, behavior and attire--she paints an excellent portrait of life and the perils of overland travel. Not entirely an unbiased observer, the introduction to this edition spells out that she left out, altered or lied about events that would have been considered indelicate or which might have damaged her family name. She presents herself as the finest thing in shoe leather on that side of the Mississippi. Her commentary is rife with all the arrogance and prejudices of the age to which she was completely oblivious. She was absolutely convinced of her own and her husband's superiority and that they were doing what was best for the Indians and the country. I would have like to have picked her up and shaken her for all the good it would have done. Her description, based on the remembrances of family and friends of the massacre at Ft. Dearborn in 1812, was particularly harrowing. Where I got the book: free on Kindle. This is the real deal; a woman who lived on what was then the Western frontier telling it how it was. And making it all sound perfectly normal. Hostile tribes, swarms of mosquitos, dangerous journeys, injury and illness? No prob. Husband away for months? Near starvation? We can hack it. Reading this short book really made me appreciate the spirit that built America. This was back when Chicago was a collection of huts (she describes, at one point, how they invited all five single men in Chicago to a party) and includes Mrs. Kinzie's transcription of an eyewitness account of the Fort Dearborn massacre. I don't know whether to be surprised at how much sympathy Mrs. Kinzie has for the Native Americans. She understands precisely why they have reason not to love the white men, and sees that their land and traditions are being stolen away from them. At the same time, she has a paternalistic attitude toward them, seeing them as "our children" and thus evidently not capable of managing by themselves. I suspect this dual attitude was typical of the settlers of the time. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in the early history of America outside its original colonies. Fascinating. sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
Pertenece a las series editorialesLakeside Classics (book 30) Library of American Civilization (13244)
Juliette Augusta Magill Kinzie was a 19th century writer, historian and pioneer of the American widwest. After her time in Wisconsin her family moved to Chicago where they were active in civic matters. She was the founder of the Chicago Historical Society. Wau-bun is an account of the years 1830 - 1833. The story is part of an autobiography of a journey to and from Fort Winnebago and the time spent there. Some of the chapters include Departure from Detroit; Michilimackinac; Arrival at Green Bay; Arrangements for Traveling; Beautiful Encampment; Breakfast at Betty More's; Butte des Morts; Major and Mrs. Twiggs; Housekeeping; Indian Payment; Louisa; Lizzie Twiggs; Departure from Fort Winnebago; Rev. Mr. Kent; Rock River; A Pottowattamie Lodge; Fort Dearborn; Massacre at Chicago; Treatment of American Prisoners by the British; Severe Spring Weather; The Captives; Colonel McKillip; Departure for Fort Winnebago; The Agency; The Cut-Nose; Plante; Indian Tales; Story of Shee-shee-banze; Visit to Green Bay; Commencement of the Sauk War; Fleeing from the Enemy; Panic at Green Bay; Conclusion of the War; Delay in the Annual Payment; and Agathe; and Famine. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)977.02History and Geography North America Midwestern U.S.Clasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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WAU-BUN translates in Ojibwa to "the dawn - the break of day"
and is a definite metaphor for the lives of Juliette and her husband, the newly appointed agent
for The Old Indian Agency House in Portage, Wisconsin.
There was no way to anticipate the changes and dangerous challenges that dominated their new existence
during the years 1830-1833 at Fort Winnebago. Juliette's evocative landscape drawings illuminate their historical passage.
Though the Kenzies express honest and almost total understanding of the horror of all the Indian land being forever stolen,
they are also, in their Christian way, condescending and superior to the Indians. Slavery is not a major concern.
Readers may hope that her husband finally has the courage to simply not join Juliette's latest travel caprices and guides her
to listen to more experienced and wiser travelers.
Her account of the Massacre at Chicago was horrifying and unexpected. ( )