{"product_id":"professional-indian-the-american-odyssey-of-eleazer-williams-hardback-9780812246766","title":"Professional Indian; The American Odyssey of Eleazer Williams (Hardback) 9780812246766","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eProfessional Indian\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eThe American Odyssey of Eleazer Williams\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eMichael Leroy Oberg (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780812246766\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 25 February 2015\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e280 pages, 6 illus.\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2.7 cm, 0.646 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"The story of a fascinating, enigmatic character who inhabited the cultural borderlands between the Iroquois confederacy and the early American republic in an era of dramatic change. Well written and compulsively readable, \u003ci\u003eProfessional Indian\u003c\/i\u003e helps us see the insoluble dilemmas facing Native American communities in this period.\" (Eric Hinderaker, University of Utah) \"In this well-crafted, impressively researched biography, Michael Leroy Oberg has told Eleazer Williams's complete life story and told it well. In Oberg's hands, Williams was a serial liar who became a 'professional Indian' in order to make a living at a time of shrinking options for Indians. \u003ci\u003eProfessional Indian\u003c\/i\u003e will be the authoritative account of this significant figure in Iroquois history.\" (David J. Silverman, George Washington University)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1788, Eleazer Williams was raised in the Catholic Iroquois settlement of Kahnawake along the St. Lawrence River. According to some sources, he was the descendant of a Puritan minister whose daughter was taken by French and Mohawk raiders; in other tales he was the Lost Dauphin, second son to Louis XVI of France. Williams achieved regional renown as a missionary to the Oneida Indians in central New York; he was also instrumental in their removal, allying with white federal officials and the Ogden Land Company to persuade Oneidas to relocate to Wisconsin. Williams accompanied them himself, making plans to minister to the transplanted Oneidas, but he left the community and his young family for long stretches of time. A fabulist and sometime confidence man, Eleazer Williams is notoriously difficult to comprehend: his own record is complicated with stories he created for different audiences. But for author Michael Leroy Oberg, he is an icon of the self-fashioning and protean identity practiced by native peoples who lived or worked close to the centers of Anglo-American power.\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eProfessional Indian\u003c\/i\u003e follows Eleazer Williams on this odyssey across the early American republic and through the shifting spheres of the Iroquois in an era of dispossession. Oberg describes Williams as a \"professional Indian,\" who cultivated many political interests and personas in order to survive during a time of shrinking options for native peoples. He was not alone: as Oberg shows, many Indians became missionaries and settlers and played a vital role in westward expansion. Through the larger-than-life biography of Eleazer Williams, \u003ci\u003eProfessional Indian\u003c\/i\u003e uncovers how Indians fought for place and agency in a world that was rapidly trying to erase them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePreface\u003cbr\u003e Prologue. On the Northern Line\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1. Pilgrim and Patriot\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2. Soldier of Christ\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3. The Prospect of Great and Good Things\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4. A Failed Performance\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5. The Life of a Misanthrope\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 6. The Confidence Man\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion. The Last of Eleazer Williams\u003cbr\u003e List of Abbreviations\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52555718721816,"sku":"9780812246766","price":31.77,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/professional-indian-the-american-odyssey-of-eleazer-williams-hardback-9780812246766","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}