Idaho Librarian

Reviews

If every era gets the history it deserves, then Piikani Blackfeet may be just punishment for our times.  For, as a work of history, ultimately it says more about today than yesterday.

Upon first examining the book my B-S meter went into the red zone over the blurbs.  Such was the author profile, which informs us that Jackson, a “rediscovered metis,” is descended from the first people of North America to experience displacement.”  As that first displacement occurred sometime prior to 10,000 years ago, we must congratulate Jackson on a truly stupendous piece of genealogical work.

The preface claims, “…this is not another book about injustices, laden with unresolved guilt and smothering sympathy.”  In that, Jackson is correct.  It’s more a book laden with smothering guilt and unresolved sympathy.  It is a work of undeniable power and skillful complexity that nonetheless doesn’t escape the pitfalls of today’s Identity Politics.

Opening pages tell us that in names there is power.  “By names we gain control of our identity.”  “…poorly informed Europeans froze individual identities and group names…”  We are forewarned of Jackson’s sensitivity and compassion, which is reiterated within the text as fur traders and trappers are chided for their insensitivity and ignorance.  Of course Jackson is eventually hoisted by his own iconoclastic petard with a reference to “Bannock-Shoshone” Indians.  Tough break, as there was no such tribe.  And no, they were not the Shoshone Bannocks, either.  I can forgive him this little faux pas but, you must understand, the poor understanding of white emigrants constitutes the sole source of historic information on which Jackson bases his book.  What are we to make of this?

The book is a work of history.  Strictly history.  In fact, in the introduction the author makes a blunt point of telling the reader that nothing intimate, sacred, or religious will be revealed.  So, what will be revealed?

Covering the 19^th century, the book relies primarily on records, journals, and account books of fur trappers and traders for first hand information.  The text does skillfully deal in complex issues of economics, social conflict, and emotion.

We are given a glimpse of the Blackfeet people prior to the arrival of horses, their adaptation to an equine lifestyle, and their growing dependence on tools and trade goods they themselves couldn’t produce.

With a cast of characters more complex than a Russian novel, the reader is driven to flipping pages back and forth to keep the tribal and place names in focus, which is all to the good.

Piikani Blackfeet, masterfully written to provide strong cohesion despite the scattered source material, provides some antidote to the “Noble Savage” school of history.  All tribes were not the same.  Their stories are not the same.

We are given, with humor and wit, a picture of the Blackfeet people as dynamic individuals dealing with forces beyond their control or understanding.  The book includes a number of pertinent illustrations, including monochrome reproductions of first hand work by Karl Bodmer, as well as sketches and wintercount images produced by Blackfeet themselves.

As complete a chronological-event history as could be produced is contained here.  From the free roving days prior to emigrant inroads, to the final end of self-sufficiency on reservations, the odyssey of these people is ardently recounted.

This work presumes to stand as the pre-eminent, definitive history of the Piegan.  That said, it cannot be too heavily emphasized that this is not a complete work.  Sadly, the Piikani Blackfeet are not culturally illuminated in this volume.  Astoundingly, even after reading the book from cover to cover, one comes away with NO understanding of the difference (pressed by the author) between Piegan and their affiliated Blackfeet neighbors the Kainaa (or Kainah, also called Blood) and Siksika.

In fact, despite the subtitle, “Culture Under Siege,” the Piikani culture is under a fog.  This is the real Achilles heel of the book.  Who are the Piikani?  After plowing through this volume one still doesn’t know.  “The People” remain in the end as obscure and unknown as before.

We are told repeatedly the Piikani acquired an undeserved reputation for violence, heaped on them by the ignorance and “violent mythology” of fur trappers.  According to Jackson himself, in 1833 the Blackfeet people killed a total of 58 mountain men.  According to reliable sources, perhaps only 200 mountain men worked the American Rockies in any given year.  That makes an attrition rate of 29% in one year.  The Blackfeet reputation was no mythology; it represented tangible danger.

This book tells us incident after incident was wrongly attributed to the Piikani.  But no evidence of their innocence is presented.  How does Jackson know?  Short answer:  he can’t.  Ultimate details are lost in the mists of time.

Perhaps, the Piegans didn’t do it.  Or perhaps, it wasn’t the Piikani.  But what differentiates the Piikani?  Unfortunately, important cultural facts are left out.

According to contemporary informant Joe Morris, Lone Walker, member of the south Piegan or Pekuni (his spelling), there are NO cultural signifiers differentiating the three subgroups of the Blackfeet, Piikani, Kainaa, and Siksika.  All three groups share the same language, rituals, habits, clothing, religion, social structure, etc.  According to every other source on the subject, there are no cultural differences.  These names represent neighborhood locations only.  Even the Blackfeet call their tribe a “Confederacy,” contrary to Jackson’s description.

So when the tribesmen came howling down to lift your hair, it was accurate enough to identify them as Blackfeet.  Journals and accounts by mountain men and other non-Indians indicate not ignorance or misunderstanding, but on the contrary, an amazingly accurate and intelligent assessment of Indian people and their situation, albeit not as sympathetic as is considered proper in our time.

Piikani Blackfeet represents a prodigious amount of research.  As an unpublished author of historical novels, I’ve some idea of the effort involved in producing a work of this scope.  Thus, I’m reluctant to pan this book.  No book is without value.  However, the facts presented by Jackson don’t jibe with his narration.

This is a fascinating read for those already steeped in the material.  Yet it fails in its attempt to be the definitive history of the Piikani, and I can’t recommend it.