The book The Middle Ground written by Richard White - Essay Example

A Review of “The Middle Ground" by Richard White One of the most recent books that attempts to write a “new history” of the American Indians, specifically at the onset of the European conquest of the new world, is the book entitled “The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region,” written by Richard White. This book, which primarily talks about “Indian-white relations” from the “perspective of the Indians” (White xxv), tried to show the fate of the different Indian tribes in the time where European colonizers (primarily Britain and France) made incursions and soon dominated much of Northern America.

In addition, the author also tried to show the complexities of Indian-white relations, and how it has led to either the assimilation or the destruction of these Indian tribes (White 518 to 584). In this case, this paper would try to look at the thesis of White as presented in this book, presenting evidence from the text itself. Then, from this thesis, the researcher would try to look at the pros and the cons of the author’s argument, putting into consideration the specific social and historical context of the events that occurred at that time.

In addition, the researcher would also look at how the author interpreted the specific cultural and historical events that was presented in the book, in order to accurately analyze the pros and the cons of the narrative of the author. In his book “The Middle Ground,” White actually showed how the Indian tribes, at the time of their contact with the European colonizers in the Great Lakes Area, treaded the middle ground, to which White showed “a process of mutual invention” (White 50), wherein the French (colonizers) “assimilated the Indians in their own conceptual order,” while some Indians pretty did much the same (White 50-51).

In this case, focusing on the example of the Algonquian and Indians, White’s thesis was that Both the Anglo-Americans and the Algonquian subverted the middle ground in the nineteenth century. The compromises intrinsic in the middle ground yielded to stark choices between assimilation and otherness. (White 518) White indicated that other Indian tribes chose to assimilate, while others also chose to remain defiant and hold on to their native customs and traditions, often resulting to disastrous consequences, such as the virtual banishment of their tribe.

As White illustrated, America made Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa into symbols of alternatives…Tecumseh…became the Indian who was virtually white…Tenskwatawa embodied the fate of what became the ultimate other, the alien savage. (White 518-519) Looking at the above argument, it can be seen that White was able to give a new version to American history, especially by stating the perspective of the American Indians in the colonization. This is one pro for the author, given that he is able to give an alternative view of the role of American Indians in American history, especially in the ever present danger of the banishment of the tribes as the white man expands his territory across the continent.

This also helps us understand why Indians ultimately attacked white settlements on some instances, and even forged alliances with America’s enemies, given that their very way of life is threatened. However, there is also one flaw in the thesis of White, given that he ultimately judged the Indian-white man relations according to the dualism of assimilation/defiance, failing to concretize the economic and political backgrounds of white man-Indian relations. Works Cited White, Richard. The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Print.