audiobook White People; Indians; and Highlanders: Tribal People and Colonial Encounters in Scotland and America by Colin G. Calloway in History

Review

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Review of Colonial EncountersBy Trevor NealDuring this age of re-negotiating our collective past and future an observant reader should pick up Colin Calloway's; 'White People; Indians; and Highlanders: Tribal People and Colonial Encounters in Scotland and America;' if for no other reason than to gain a fresh perspective on the history of capitalism and the lives of those it impacted; for the book portrays the ways in which internal colonization often mirrors the external; destroying and remaking the lives of those colonized.Mr. Calloway makes no excuses for the lives of those he studies; illustrating how the actors within the pageant of history are often guided by selfish motives. However; he dispels the myth of a monolithic past; illustrating that on the frontier multiple ethnicities were involved; including warring Native American tribes; the French; the British; the Spanish; and the Scotch.He begins his analysis by providing the reader with background information on the Highland Scotch and the Native Americans. The reader learns that the Highlander Scots were remnants of the ancient Celts. Their culture was clan based; built around a pastoral economy centered on cattle in which land was held communally by the clan. Clans often were in conflict with each other carrying out revenge for cattle; land; and honor.Although there had been previous attempts to establish law and order in the Highlands by the Romans; the Lowland Scotch; and the British; the dispute over the secession of the English throne; the Jacobite rebellions that resulted; and the concurrent Protestant-Catholic conflict spelled the end to a separate Highland culture as the British began a systematic effort to disenfranchise Highlanders from their land and transform their culture.The result was a mass exodus to America; where ironically the Highlanders became the front-line in the effort to disenfranchise Native Americans of their lands. Often Highlanders ended up on the buffer zones between Native American tribes and the colonial towns on the east coast; fighting; trading with; and even intermarrying members of Native American tribes.Mr. Calloway continues with an analysis that compares the histories of the Highland Scotch and Native Americans; illustrating that:1) Both groups lived on the peripheries of the emerging British and American empires; and like the Highlanders Native American societies were clan based; holding land in common. Their subsistence farming - hunting gathering economy was not much different from the pastoral economy of the Highlanders.2) Highlanders and Eastern tribes were dislocated from their homelands; Highlanders through the land clearances; and Native Americans through the removal act.3) Both groups endured efforts to transform their lifestyles by the colonizers; including efforts to replace their languages with English.4) Highlanders and Native American tribes were then romanticized by the colonizers; their identities commercialized for mass consumptionHighlanders and Native Americans often met efforts to colonize them in individual ways; some becoming co-opted into the colonizers schemes; assisting in the near extinction of most of America's wildlife for the profit of the fur trade; oppressing each other and their own; or making futile attempts to resist cultural genocide.As they continue reading; a reader soon gets the picture that everyone must have a little of the oppressor and the oppressed within their heritage; and identifying with one or the other does not do justice to the historical facts; for the story cannot be summed up into a tidy little plot of protagonist versus antagonist. Victims often ended up on separate sides; re-victimizing each other; or becoming integrated into each others communities; and it is only due to an ironic coincidence that a person with a Highlander Scotch surname is dancing at the local tribal pow-wow.Continuing on; I couldn't help but to ask why the Highlanders hadn't developed along the lines of the Lowland Scotch. Did geography account for the differences? This is the one major critique I have on Mr. Calloway's book. Sometimes I got lost in the details; as Mr. Calloway threw out one name after another; making it difficult to remember all the facts that Mr. Calloway confronted me with. However; I found this piece well worth the time and energy spent.For anyone serious in challenging the historical myths that they have been taught this is a good book to start with. Mr. Calloway doesn't hold back any punches; and a reader is left questioning the remaining shreds of their precious sense of identity; not quite sure how they've earned their place across the color line. Maybe trickster really does have the final say?4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. One Scottish American's opinion!By CustomerI found this work fascinating! The comparison between the experiences of the Highland Clans of Scotland and the Native American Tribes at the hands of the "civilized" Europeans (read English) are astonishing. Both cultures were adversely impacted simply because outsides didn't or wouldn't appreciate what they saw and insisted that their standards be met. My ancestors were directly impacted and as a result fled to America during the early 1750s. Loved the book and would recommend it to all that want a study in the impact of one culture on others.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. AN INTERESTING STUDY OF WARRIOR CULTURESBy EDWARD J. GILSON Jr.This book gives an excellent account of how the British channeled native warrior cultures both in the colonies and their own island to promote their own ends. In the 1750s the British find themselves in a difficult position. They need manpower for their colonial wars and they have a shortage of volunteers. They have a large number of disaffected young Scottish males spoiling for a fight and the memory of Culloden in 1745 is still quite strong. The solution is a stroke of genius. The British Army creates Highland regiments and gets these people out of Britain for service in the colonies. This was no labor of love; the British viewed the Highlanders as barbarians and slightly above the Indians they were to do battle with. The similarities between the Highlanders and the Indians they either fought against or allied with is also interesting. Both had warrior cultures; clans; and blood loyalties that were beyond English comprehension. Both were peoples who suffered severe privation and who had no illusions about British motives and designs on their lands. I found this to be a very interesting read. The title of the book is a very good illustration of the 18th Century British view of the world.