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Ethnohistory 51.2 (2004) 453-454



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A Forest of Time: American Indian Ways of History. By Peter Nabokov. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. x + 246 pp., index. $60.00 cloth, $22.00 paper.)

Dauntingly exhaustive, unflinchingly honest, and uncommonly balanced, A Forest of Time represents a major interdisciplinary contribution to American Indian studies. With the grace and accessibility we have come to expect, Nabokov leads the reader on a whirlwind journey into the beating heart of American Indian historicity.

This volume is not offered as a final word on American Indian relationships with the past. On the contrary, Nabokov envisions the book as a catalyst for future research, describing it as an "introductory handbook" (vii). As a result of this generalist approach, Nabokov operates on a broad, and potentially risky, level of analysis as he walks "the tightrope between provisional generalization and provocative exception" (vii). The fact that he succeeds at this intellectual balancing act, deftly maneuvering between spatial, temporal, and cultural coordinates without succumbing to reification, reductionism, or essentialism, is one of the most impressive—and instructive—aspects of this book.

A Forest of Time begins with two excellent introductory chapters: "Introduction: Short History of American Indian Historicity" and "Chapter 1: Some Dynamics of American Indian Historicity." (I suspect that the introduction, which provides a concise history of non-Indian approaches to Indian history, will become standard issue among graduate students preparing for qualifying exams.) The remaining chapters are organized around topics such as legends (chapter 2), geography (chapter 5), rituals (chapter 7), and prophecy (chapter 9). One particularly unique aspect of this work is that an entire chapter (chapter 8) is dedicated to a discussion of historians and historical writers of American Indian descent.

Throughout this book Nabokov pays special attention to the politics of historical representation, multivocality, resistance, and cultural survival. Not one to duck the nettlesome issues, Nabokov reflects on the factual credibility of American Indian oral histories, providing numerous examples of their accuracy. At the same time, he shows that it misses the point of Indian historicity to appraise it only according to European historical standards (facts and chronologies) without also appreciating the Indian concern [End Page 453] with themes, attitudes, and models of moral conduct. Indian historicity, he explains, does not generally involve a receding past that loses practical relevance with each passing year. Instead, the Indian past is often a deeply personal and highly charged aspect of the present that is treated with the utmost respect to avoid serious spiritual reprisals.

Although I offer no shattering criticisms of A Forest of Time, Nabokov does raise some issues that I wish he had discussed in greater detail. For example, a prominent theme in the book is that American Indian oral history—particularly myth—is adaptive and works in the interest of cultural survival (47, 94, 99, 226, 235). Certainly, considering the events of the past five hundred years, one would be hard pressed to argue against the tenacity of American Indian culture. Nevertheless, I'm also fairly certain that certain readers will find Nabokov's emphasis on the adaptive quality of oral history somewhat paradoxical in light of the tragic social circumstances that exist on many Indian reservations today.

In conclusion, A Forest of Time is a clarion call for non-Indian ethnohistorians to keep the "ethno" in their histories. Nabokov repeatedly demonstrates that historical studies lacking a strong cultural component sacrifice both interpretive depth and the ability to chip away at the edifice of "objective" Western history. As Nabokov states, "The trick lies in simultaneously tracking down hard facts and their cultural and historical contexts and nuances, without which they don't mean much" (234).


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