Post by Matthew S. Schweitzer on Jan 24, 2006 13:16:33 GMT -5
White Savage: William Johnson and the Invention of America by Fintan O'Toole is a new biography of the famous Irishman who was a prominent figure during the French and Indian War and in the years leading up to the American Revolution. He was deeply involved with the Iroquois League, especially the Mohawks of which he was an adopted member, even marrying the sister of the famous Mohawk chief Joseph Brandt. Sir William fought at Lake George and Niagara during the French and Indian War and made a name for himself as the powerful Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Crown. Johnson was one of the most influential white men along the Eastern Frontier in the mid 18th century and his legacy lived on long after his death in 1774. This book highlights his many achievements, and his failures, in building an alliance with the Iroquois. It goes on to show that, despite the great respect he had for the Indians and their culture, their entanglement in European affairs ultimately doomed them.
