Dragging Canoe, a Cherokee chief, grew up in the eighteenth century as more and more whites entered their ancestral lands forcing more and more concessions in return for less and less remuneration. His father, also a tribal elder, believed in negotiating with the white man- at least until he met Pontiac and learned of the animosity between the various American and European factions. Dragging Canoe watched as one agreement after another was violated and as more and more of his people were killed. He advocated an inter-tribal alliance and inspired Tecumseh. Neither approach ended up being successful and the Cherokee nation moved west in the Trail of Tears. Robert Conley has written an important piece of historical fiction that presents the native point of view well, adding the emotional dilemmas that come when traditional wisdom fails its people and when one generation's solutions clash with those preferred by the next.
Conley, Robert J., Cherokee Dragon. 2000. St. Martin's Press. New York.
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