Rich Indians: Native People and the Problem of Wealth in American History

by Alexandra Harmon

Overview

Long before lucrative tribal casinos sparked controversy, Native Americans amassed other wealth that provoked intense debate about the desirability, morality, and compatibility of Indian and non-Indian economic practices. Alexandra Harmon examines seven such instances of Indian affluence and the dilemmas they presented both for Native Americans and for Euro-Americans — dilemmas rooted in the colonial origins of the modern American economy. Harmon’s study not only compels us to look beyond stereotypes of greedy whites and poor Indians, but also convincingly demonstrates that Indians deserve a prominent place in American economic history and in the history of American ideas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807899571
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	10/25/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Alexandra Harmon is professor of American Indian studies at the University of Washington. She is editor of The Power of Promises: Perspectives on Northwest Indian Treaties and author of Indians in the Making: Ethnic Relations and Indian Identities around Puget Sound.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Harmon offers an original overview of Indian-white relations in the United States by tracing Euro-American attitudes towards Indian economic activity and Indian wealth from seventeenth-century Virginia to the modern age. An original, wide-ranging, well-written, and well-argued work.—Frederick Hoxie, author of A Final Promise: The Campaign to Assimilate the American Indians, 1880-1920

This bold and provocative book is an outstanding work of scholarship. It reveals the complicated and often paradoxical history of American ideas about the morality of wealth accumulation and Indians' efforts to compete in the capitalist marketplace on the same terms as their non-Indian counterparts. Harmon is a trailblazer in the field of American Indian economic history.—Colleen O'Neill, author of Working the Navajo Way: Labor and Culture in the Twentieth Century

Editorial Reviews

“[Harmon] unites ethnography, history, and economic thought to offer a fresh perspective on Indian and Euro-American notions of wealth and how these shaped their views of one another. . . . Recommended. Graduate students, faculty.” — CHOICE

“The book’s greatest strengths are its synthesis of diverse materials and its ability to clearly articulate profound moral ambivalence. . . . The divergent pieces of history that Harmon connects . . . constitute a radically new way to understand twentieth-century Indian history.” — Journal of American History

“[A] well-crafted discussion of Indian wealth.” — Journal of Southern History

“Harmon offers a diverse, atypical view of the effects of tribal and American-influenced economics on Indian people.” — Indian Country Today

“A well-researched history. . . . Highly recommended for college and university libraries and some public libraries.” — Tennessee Libraries

“A sorely needed effort to integrate Native Americans into the story of American economic development and its consequences . . . . Noteworthy.” — American Historical Review

“An excellent addition to our understanding of Indian-white relations, and an original approach to challenging common assumptions about Native poverty and the desire of Americans to see that poverty end. It will be a stimulating read for historians, anthropologists, and Native scholars alike.” — Great Plains Quarterly

“An original and thought-provoking synthesis of the history of Indian-white relations.” — North Carolina Historical Review

“[A] landmark in Native American history.” — Western Historical Quarterly

“An important intervention in a historical discourse that has too long remained inchoate.” — Reviews in American History

From the Publisher