Ben Waber reviewed The Middle Ground by Richard White (Cambridge Studies in North American Indian History S)
A Voluminous Review of Great Lakes Indian History from 1650-1815
4 stars
This book was updated in 2010, and while it still shows a bit of age in terms of naming conventions it still represents a solid history of the Great Lakes Indians from 1650-1815. While there's a bit of analysis here, it's a fairly relentless run-through of this period, rapidly following the different indigenous, European, and eventually American players through a wide range of interactions and machinations. It can be a bit challenging at times to situate the different developments - this book is probably best read with period maps at hand. What White does extremely well is demonstrate how the "middle ground" policy of Indian/European engagement was constantly returned to despite temporary disturbances through this period. Highly recommend
This book was updated in 2010, and while it still shows a bit of age in terms of naming conventions it still represents a solid history of the Great Lakes Indians from 1650-1815. While there's a bit of analysis here, it's a fairly relentless run-through of this period, rapidly following the different indigenous, European, and eventually American players through a wide range of interactions and machinations. It can be a bit challenging at times to situate the different developments - this book is probably best read with period maps at hand. What White does extremely well is demonstrate how the "middle ground" policy of Indian/European engagement was constantly returned to despite temporary disturbances through this period. Highly recommend