126 The Michigan Historical Review In addition, Baldwin manages to capture the perspectives of island residents—including fishermen, resort owners, and families with longheld property interests—all of whom were frequently caught among competing federal entities, logging firms, and environmentalists. Ironically, it was these same residents’ work to preserve the Isle Royale wilderness that led to their ultimate departure from the island. As a scholarly work, Becoming Wilderness suffers shortcomings in its photo captions and reference notes (this reviewer is still not clear where Albert Stoll’s “Detroit News Isle Royale Papers” reside). But such criticism is negligible, and the book’s humble length (90 pages) and affordable price clearly target a more general audience. Baldwin’s narrative is supplemented by more than 60 photographs and maps, a perfect read for the ferry crossing to Rock Harbor—or to tuck into your rucksack for later enjoyment. Erik Nordberg Michigan Technological University Charles E. Cleland et al. Faith in Paper: The Ethnohistory and Litigation of Upper Great Lakes Indian Treaties. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2011. Pp. 391. Bibliography. Index. Maps. Notes. Tables. Cloth, $95.00. During the treaty era from 1815 to 1871, American settlement expanded westward and encroached increasingly upon indigenous territory in the Great Lakes region. The presence of Native Americans on so much economically viable but misused land (from the American purview) constituted the “Indian problem,” the solution to which was the formation of a legal relationship by treaty. Anthropologist Charles Cleland explains this process in Faith in Paper, a book that deftly blends ethnohistory with jurisprudence to reveal a complex narrative of cultural interaction between Native Americans and settlers. In turn, this study of the nineteenth-century Great Lakes region illuminates present legal disputes over territorial rights by examining how and why treaties were established. As the author states, the “proper alignment of law, anthropology, and history could be a powerful force for social change” (p. 3). Faith in Paper is multifaceted in both its content and purpose. It is arranged into segments alternating between the historical background supplied by Cleland and the analyses of contemporary court cases by the Book Reviews 127 book’s contributing authors. In this way, the work juxtaposes the broader history of the upper Great Lakes, the development of treaties between Native residents (the Anishinaabeg cultures of the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi) and Americans, and contemporary legal conflicts between the states and Native nations. Cleland strives to remain objective throughout the work, though he concedes that his role as an expert witness in several of the court cases analyzed in the text has influenced his observations. At any rate, he carefully presents the perspectives and motivations of both parties in the treaty-making process. Moreover, Cleland contends that, given the lack of written histories among the Anishinaabeg, knowledge of culture proves a useful tool for extrapolating an indigenous point of view otherwise lost in the historical record. The information provided by Cleland is incredibly detailed and fascinating, though the history of treaty negotiations is not necessarily groundbreaking on its own. The true value of the histories he examines is their current relevance, which is made manifest by the book’s contributing authors. Lawyers and Native American rights activists, including Bruce Green and Kathryn Tierney, draw from their experiences in more recent cases, such as United States v. Michigan and Lac Courte Oreilles Band v. Wisconsin, to demonstrate the importance of recognizing the nation-to-nation treaty relationship between tribal groups and states. For example, using Cleland’s descriptions of the usufruct privileges granted in perpetuity by the treaties of 1836 and 1855, Green, Tierney, and others show the utility of applying history to resolve current disputes. Faith in Paper is a terrific study of the treaty era in the Great Lakes and how negotiation and accommodation—both fair and imbalanced— were crucial to cultural interaction in the region. By combining cultural and legal histories, the book also illustrates the increasing viability of an interdisciplinary approach to academic research in Native American studies. Finally, the book implicitly pushes important concerns of Native Americans to the fore. Faith in Paper is informative, but it also calls for a more progressive public dialogue...
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Jan 1, 2012
Ioannis Spilanis + 2
Open Access