Spirit Wars: Native North American Religions in the Age of Nation Building (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780520219878)

Spirit Wars is an exploration of the ways in which the destruction of spiritual practices and beliefs of native peoples in North America has led to conditions of collective suffering--a process sometimes referred to as cultural genocide. Ronald Niezen approaches this topic through wide-ranging case studies involving different colonial powers and state governments: the seventeenth-century Spanish occupation of the Southwest, the colonization of the Northeast by the French and British, nineteenth-century westward expansion and nationalism in the swelling United States and Canada, and twentieth-century struggles for native people's spiritual integrity and freedom. Each chapter deals with a specific dimension of the relationship between native peoples and non-native institutions, and together these topics yield a new understanding of the forces directed against the underpinnings of native cultures.

Author: Ronald Niezen
ISBN-10: 0520219872
ISBN-13: 9780520219878
Publisher: University of California Press
Language: English
Published: 08/28/2000
Pages: 274
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.96h x 6.02w x 0.74d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 01/01/2001 pg. 946