Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This book is best read in conjunction with Larpenteur's FORTY YEARS A FUR TRADER,and Denig's FIVE INDIAN TRIBES OF THE UPPER MISSOURI,& ASSINABOINE to fully appreciate the cultural specifics & interrelationships between white traders,Indians,& Metis peoples in mid 19th century Dakota & Montana territories.Unlike present day politically correct/"sensitive" accounts, Kurz was a Swiss artist who lived with & sketched the Indian tribes of the upper & lower Missouri River from 1846-1852 as he found them. Dispite overall sympathy for the plight of their rapidly changing cultures,he depicts various tribes in brutally accurate & often unflattering accounts. History with all its bumps & warts is a phenomena sadly lacking today particularly with regard to Native American/White relations on the frontier. It's a humanizing account-acknowledging the endemic savage violence Indians were capable of directing toward each other. The lethal depridations of Smallpox,Influenza, & Cholera, on native populations are also described with disturbing directness. I would recommend this & the other titles mentioned for any reader who is interested in historical accuracy with often upsetting bluntness.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Journal of Rudolph Friederich Kurz: An Account of His Experiences among Fur Traders and American Indians on the Mississippi and the Upper Mississippi Rivers during the Years 1846 to 1852
As a clerk at Forts Berthold and the Union, Kurz, a noted Swiss artist, came to know well Indians, fur traders, and officers, and to understand the conditions of life in the region. He aimed "to give from my own observation a sincere portrayal of the American Indian in his romantic mode of life, a true representation of the larger fur-bearing animals, native forests and prairies." The volume, which includes 93 drawings, was originally published as Bulletin 115 of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
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