Melissa Otis. Rural Indigenousness: A History of Iroquoian and Algonquian Peoples of the Adirondacks.

Abstract

The circle of mountains known as the Adirondacks form what has always been the least populated part of New York State. The Adirondacks’ rugged topography and high elevation make transportation and agriculture difficult. Historians of the area, which exceeds the size of neighboring Vermont, have been few and far between. Melissa Otis’s new book adds significantly to our understanding of the Adirondacks, and it is one of very few that examine in detail the experiences of the area’s Indigenous peoples. The heart of the book are the chapters on how Indigenous women and men took advantage of the burgeoning tourist economy. From 1800 onward, metropolitan visitors were drawn to the healing waters at Ballston and Saratoga Springs in ever-increasing numbers. This provided Indigenous people with opportunities not only to perform domestic labor but to sell baskets and beadwork and to entertain visitors with performances based on Indigenous culture. Later in...