Cornplanter
Chief Warrior of the Allegany Senecas
Thomas S. Abler
A rare chronicle of the life of the Seneca Chief Warrior who guided his people through a time of historic crisis.
Review
“Often overshadowed by half-brother Handsome Lake, Cornplanter was an important leader of the Seneca during an era that saw the waning of the Iroquois Confederacy (the Seneca were one of the six Iroquois nations) as white populations surged into their homelands. As eloquently described by Abler, Cornplanter (c.1740-1836) first rose to prominence as an Iroquois warrior fighting alongside the British in the American Revolution. Following the conflict, he was involved in a number of peace treaty negotiations with the United States that resulted in the loss of Seneca lands. His role in the land cessions led to a decline of his standing among his people. Special attention is paid to how Handsome Lake’s religious revitalization movement caused a rift among the Seneca that found the brothers on opposite sides. This excellent biography should be read alongside Anthony F.C. Wallace’s Death and Rebirth of the Seneca. Recommended for academic and public libraries.”
—Library Journal
Description
The era following the American War of Independence was one of enormous conflict for the Allegany Senecas. As the most influential Seneca leader of his time, Cornplanter led his people in war and along an often troubled path to peace. This incisive biography traces his rise to prominence as a Seneca military leader during the American Revolution and his later diplomatic success in negotiations with the Federal government. The book also explores Cornplanter’s dealings with other Native American councils and with his own people. It explains how Senecas faced heavy pressure to sell their lands, and how they concurrently embraced a reformed and revitalized Iroquois religion, as inspired by Cornplanter’s visionary half-brother, Handsome Lake.
Thomas S. Abler skillfully weaves together previously discordant strands of the Chief Warrior’s life into a concise, animated, and enlightening portrait. Even as Cornplanter examines a critical period in American history, it gives us a multidimensional knowledge of politics and diplomacy from the Seneca point of view.
Author
Thomas S. Abler is professor of anthropology at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He is author of Hinterland Warriors and Military Dress: European Empires and Exotic Uniforms and editor of Chainbreaker: The Revolutionary War Memoirs of Governor Blacksnake.
6 x 9, 200 pages, 4 black-and-white images, 7 genealogical charts, appendix, notes
Cloth $45.00L | 978-0-8156-3114-9 | 2007Paper $19.95s | 978-0-8156-3138-5 | 2007
Archaeology of the Iroquois
Selected Readings and Research Sources
Edited by Jordan E. Kerber
An up-to-date text for Iroquoian archaeology and an essential reference for archaeologists and other researchers.
Description
This timely volume offers a compilation of twenty-four articles covering a wide spectrum of topics in Iroquoian archaeology. Culled from leading publications, these essays collectively represent the current state of knowledge and research in the field. A comprehensive research bibliography with more than 500 entries will be a key resource for specialists and nonspecialists alike. Both text and bibliography are structured in five sections:
• Origins;
• Precolumbian Dynamics;
• Postcolumbian Dynamics;
• Material Culture Studies; and
• Contemporary Iroquois Perspectives, Repatriation, and Collaborative Archaeology.
Along with seminal essays by major figures in regional archaeology, the book includes responses by Haudenosaunee writers to the political context of contemporary archaeological work.
Editor
Jordan E. Kerber is associate professor of anthropology and Native American studies at Colgate University and curator of archaeological collections at Colgate’s Longyear Museum of Anthropology.
6 x 9, 272 pages, 1 color and 109 black-and-white illustrations, bibliography, indexPaper $45.00s | 978-0-8156-3139-2 | 2007
Historic New York
Architectural Journeys in the Empire State
Photographs by Andy Olenick
Text by Richard O. Reisem
Description
More than five years in the making, this photographic tour de force explores four centuries of architecture in the Empire State. From Hudson Valley mansions and New York skyscrapers to Adirondack Great Camps and Erie Canal cobblestone structures, Historic New York: Architectural Journeys in the Empire State visits hundreds of the state’s landmarks through stunning color images and pithy captions.
Destined to become the standard for photography books on New York State architecture, this ambitious work covers eleven regional chapters: Long Island, New York City, Hudson Valley, Capital District, Adirondacks, Mohawk Valley, Thousand Islands, Finger Lakes, Western Erie Canal, Southern Tier, Niagara Frontier. Each chapter includes a rich variety of structures, from the formal estates of the rich and famous to the modest dwellings of noted activists, from engineering feats like bridges and aqueducts to historic landmarks like forts, lighthouses, and arches.
Photographer | Author
Historic New York is the creation of photographer Andy Olenick and author Richard 0. Reisem, a celebrated team renowned for their outstanding photography books on local and regional architecture, including the award-winning Erie Canal Legacy and the best-selling 200 Years of Rochester Architecture and Gardens.
Cloth $49.95 | 0-9763910-2-3 | 2006
Distributed for the Landmark Society of Western New York
Painting Lake George
1774-1900
Erin Budis Coe and Gwendolyn Owens
Painting Lake George, 1774-1900 explores in depth the extraordinary paintings that depict the famously beautiful Adirondack resort community.
Description
In the tradition of recent explorations of landscape paintings distinguished by place, this lavishly illustrated book investigates why paintings of the "Queen of American lakes," as it was known in the nineteenth century, became popular: what characteristics separated them from other landscape views, who bought them, and how they were understood by the public. The compendium of accompanying information presents the range of the documented paintings, even paintings lost or destroyed, surviving only in records of their titles and artists. It serves to enhance our understanding of the range of artists and interpretations of the lake.
Author
Erin Budis Coe is the curator of The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, New York.
Gwendolyn Owens writes on American art and architecture. Her publications include Maurice and Charles Prendergast: A Catalogue Raisonné (Prestel, 1989) of which she is a co-author, Golden Day, Silver Night: Perceptions of Nature in American Art 1850-1910 and Nature Transcribed: The Landscapes and Still Lifes of David Johnson along with essays and exhibition catalogues on the establishment of a market for American art at the start of the twentieth century, and the intersection of art and architectural theory. Former curator of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, and former director of The Art Gallery, University of Maryland, College Park, she has been associated with the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal since 1991. She is currently co-editing Gordon Matta-Clark: A Sourcebook (University of California Press, 2006).
11 x 9 1/2, 88 pages, 45 color plates (plus 3 color details), 9 black-and-white photographs
Erin Budis Coe and Gwendolyn Owens
Paper $29.95 | 0-9606718-4-6 | 2005
April 20, 2007