The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972 Page: 257

Book Reviews

read. An especially strong feature of the book is the author's insights
into typical patterns of Indian-white relations. Debo, indeed, frequent-
ly raises and discusses questions which are completely new or which
other writers have ignored. She is equally adept in her presentation
of twentieth-century Indian history, a subject often treated in cursory
fashion if covered at all. Debo's excellent summary of the New Deal,
Eisenhower termination policy, and the Kennedy-Johnson years con-
stitutes the most interesting and original passages of the book. Anyone
who believes that the days of white rapacity toward Indians is gone
should read Debo's last chapters carefully.
One weakness of the author's treatment is her over-emphasis on
Oklahoma Indians. Her justification that Oklahoma has been repre-
sentative of Indian affairs at large may be true in many instances, but
federal policy, the cultural and economic makeup of tribes, and In-
dian-white relations have been much too varied to make one state the
archetype for all Indian experience.
More than a touch of the muckraker characterizes Debo's attitude
on Indian history. She excels in her lively discussions of white skul-
duggery and lust for land, and her sympathy for the Indian is always
apparent. Despite this bias, A History of the Indians of the United
States is well researched and smoothly written, and it should become
a standard general study of the subject for many years.
Purdue University DONALD L. PARMAN
The Removal of the Choctaw Indians. By Arthur H. DeRosier, Jr.
(Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1970o. Pp. xii+2o8. Il-
lustrations, footnotes, bibliography, index. $7.50.)
At a time of renewed interest in Indian history, Arthur H. De-
Rosier, Jr., has written a welcome study on the neglected subject
of the removal of the southeastern tribes. The uprooting of the
Choctaws, moreover, is a particularly pertinent topic, for those un-
fortunates were the first group transported under the government's
attempt to create its briefly "permanent" frontier at mid-continent.
Thus the Choctaws' displacement set the pattern for a time-dishonored
process.
After sketching a sympathetic outline of the Choctaw culture, the
author describes the alternate wooing and threats that produced the
treaties of Doak's Stand and Dancing Rabbit Creek, providing for
dissolution of tribal holdings in Mississippi in return for lands far-

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