Handbook of the American Frontier, The Far West: Four Centuries of Indian-White Relationships

by Norman J. Heard

Overview

The projected five volume Handbook of the American Frontier is intended as a work of first reference that provides insights into Indian-white relationships during the first four centuries of our colonial and United States history. Based upon both primary and secondary sources, it includes the Indian viewpoint as well as the white, and provides references to assist the reader to additional information.

Volume IV of the Handbook is an account of men and events important in the frontier history of the West from the earliest Spanish explorations to the last Indian battle, fought in 1918. Like previous volumes, it is presented as an historical dictionary with entries relating to the experiences of Indian leaders and tribes, traders, explorers, missionaries, mountain men, military officers, and frontier settlers. Much attention is devoted to warfare, treaties, and alliances between European and Native American Nations. Tribes featured include the Apaches, Navahos, Pueblos, Utes, Paiutes, Shoshonis, Modocs, Yumas, and the proliferation of native peoples inhabiting the Pacific Coast from Mexico to Canada.

The other regional volumes cover events and peoples in the Southwest Woodlands, the Northeastern Woodlands, and the Great Plains. The final volume of the set will include a general index, bibliography and chronology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810832831
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	07/23/1997
Series:	Native American Resources Series , #1
Edition description:	Volume IV
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.74(h) x 1.04(d)

About the Author

J. Norman Heard (Ph.D.,Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge) is volunteer curator of the Mississippi Valley Museum at Lafayette, Louisianna. He is the author of more than a dozen books on American frontier history, bibliography, and assisting the handicapped. He was founder of the South Texas Habilitation Center, the Valley Botanical Garden at McAllen, Texas, and the Acadian Villiage at Lafayette, Louisianna, all of which are intended to provide training and employment for handicapped persons. He has also served as librarian at eight universities before retiring in 1981 to devote more time to writing and civic activities.

Editorial Reviews

This work...provides a handy reference for teachers and students of western history...it presents a more balanced view of Indian-White relations than older references, making use of newer ethnohistorical research....Heard is to be commended for including many lesser-known leaders....Heard's series is a useful tool for easy reference, and enjoyable reading.

New Mexico Historical Review

Heard's volume has some unique entries, including biographical material...recommended for all libraries.

American Reference Books Annual

Heard's volume has some unique entries, including biographical material...recommended for all libraries.

American Reference Books Annual (ARBA)

Librarian and researcher Heard has come out with the fourth volume of his projected five-volume set on the American frontier (e.g., Vol. 3: The Great Plains, Scarecrow, 1993). Volume 4 covers the Far West, that is, the Rocky Mountains, Southwestern deserts, and Pacific coast. Heard presents his material in the form of a dictionary, covering individuals, groups, places, and events such as battles. Each entry runs from a paragraph or two up to a page in length and concludes with a brief bibliography of books and chapters in books. Although the individual volumes so far do not have subject indexes, Volume 5 is to provide an index to the set. The bibliographic entries would be useful, especially where searching for information on topics that have few or no titles devoted to them (e.g., the entry on Thomas Jeffords, an Indian trader and friend of Cochise). The narrative entries are clear and helpful summations and are useful as a point of definition or as browsing material. A reasonable purchase for libraries with extensive interest in this area.Charles V. Cowling, Drake Memorial Lib., Brockport, N.Y.

Library Journal

This alphabetically arranged ethnohistory spans the complexly contentious encounters of the earliest white-indigenous peoples, to the end of the so-called Indian wars (though such dates cannot be ascertained until relevant entries are consulted). Heard (curator, Mississippi Valley Museum: Lafayette, Louisiana) considers issues of nomenclature, source credibility and bias, as he draws upon primary and secondary research materials. The initial entry reads <-->a SW Oregon Indian fighter and agent; the final inclusion is an <'A>coma Chief who led an unsuccessful 1598 attack against Spanish soldiers (cross-referenced to coma Pueblo, New Mexico/>). Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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