The Death And Rebirth Of The Seneca; The History and Culture of the Great Iroquois Nations, Their Destruction and Demoralization, and Their Cultural Revival at the Hands of the Indian Visionary, Handsome Lake

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970. First Edition [stated], presumed first printing. Hardcover. Very good/Good. Lorence Bjorklund (Jacket drawing). xiii, [3], 384, xi, [3] pages. Maps. Illustrations. Notes and References. Bibliography. Index. DJ has minor wear, soiling, and edge tears. Anthony Francis Clarke Wallace (April 15, 1923 - October 5, 2015) was a Canadian-American anthropologist who specialized in Native American cultures, especially the Iroquois. His research expressed an interest in the intersection of cultural anthropology and psychology. He was famous for the theory of revitalization movements. At the University of Pennsylvania in 1955 he became senior research associate at the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, at which place he later became the Director of Clinical Research, and served as such until 1980. From 1955 to 1960, Wallace served as research associate at the institute and visiting associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at Penn, following which, he was appointed director of clinical research at the University of Pennsylvania. A year later, after writing Culture and Personality, he became full-time professor and chairman of the Department of Anthropology at Penn.
Wallace published perhaps his most influence work, The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca. He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1969. Wallace authored such books as Rockdale and Saint Clair which were awarded Bancroft and Dexter Prizes in 1987 and 1989 respectively. In 1980, he became the first Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought at the University of Pennsylvania, and three years later became Professor of the Department of Anthropology at the same institution. This book tells the story of the late colonial and early reservation history of the Seneca Indians, and of the prophet Handsome Lake, his visions, and the moral and religious revitalization of an American Indian society that he and his followers achieved in the years around 1800. Includes bibliographical references Contents include: 1. The religion of Handsome Lake today -- pt. I. The heyday of the Iroquois -- 2. The Seneca nation of Indians -- Villagers, warriors, and statesmen -- The Iroquois "matriarchate" -- The ideal of autonomous responsibility -- Iroquois polity : the philosophy of peace -- Iroquois warfare : the strategy of threat and retaliation -- 3. The rituals of hope and Thanksgiving -- The calendar of Thanksgiving -- Dreams and the wishes of the soul -- 4. The rituals of fear and mourning -- The importance of love and friendship -- The faces of the gods -- The cult of death -- pt. II. The decline of the Iroquois -- 5. The last wares in the forest -- The play-off system -- Pontiac's conspiracy -- A dark and bloody ground -- The Iroquois and the revolution : the neutrality policy -- The Oswego council -- The first battles -- Sullivan's raid -- The final campaigns -- 6. The collapse of the confederacy -- Federal and state Indian policies and the "conquest theory" treaties -- The rise of the western confederacy -- The Treaty of Fort Harmar -- The war for the Northwest Territory -- The splitting of the Iroquois confederacy -- The establishment of the Cornplanter Seneca -- American concessions to the New York Iroquois -- The Treaty of Big Tree -- 7. Slums in the wilderness -- Cornplanter's town -- Depopulation -- Loss of confidence -- Social pathology : alcohol, violence, witch fear, disunity -- Paths to salvation -- The ragged conquerors -- The friendly people -- The cruel spring -- pt. III. The renaissance of the Iroquois -- 8. Preaching to repentance : the first, or apocalyptic, gospel -- The first vision of Handsome Lake -- The sky journey -- The third vision -- The apocalyptic gospel -- The great witch hunt -- 9. The politics of evangelism : the second, or social, gospel -- Concessions to the progressive faction -- The visit to Washington -- The Quaker model -- The social gospel -- Political defeat -- 10. Renaissance -- Temperance -- Technology -- Religious observance -- The death of Handsome Lake -- The years of trouble -- The formation of the Handsome Lake Church.