Wilbur R. Jacobs

The Indian and the Frontier in American History—A Need for Revision

rT he proposition that I am setting forth here is that although much traditional Indian-white-frontier history is of great significance in illuminating our knowledge of the past, there is a need to focus more of our attention on what might be called the Indian point of view. In fact, I am suggesting that we revise certain of our traditional ideas about the frontier in American history with a hope of seeking a balance to offset some of the widely accepted interpretations that have repeatedly appeared in our textbooks and in many learned journals. If we are going to tell the whole story of Indian-white relations, we must make an all-out attempt to picture the clash of cultures so that there will be an understanding of both cultures, not just one. Thus, to give more attention to the Indian side is not necessarily to plead for the Indian point of view. What we are seeking, it seems to me, is a wider basis of truth, a better understanding of what has happened in the past. We may then have a truer account of what actually happened to both Indians and whites and of the emergence of a new culture that formed on the frontier at the point of contact.

National Frontiers, Great World Frontiers, and the Shadow of Frederick Jackson Turner

WILLIAM H. MCNEILL. The Great Frontier: Freedom and Hierarchy in Modern Times. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1983. Pp. 79.

In retrospect : the history of a historian

13.95 (US).