This is one of the series of books entitled The Chicago History of American Civilization. The series will include over forty titles. Some of the books present a chronological slice of our country’s history. Most of them present the history of some topic such as its American Labor, American Immigration or the book which is the subject of this review. American Indians is not designed for the person already knowledgeable in the history of the contact between the American Indian and the European or the role of the American Indian in development of the United States. Rather, it will appeal to the adult who has some general knowledge of American history and who wants a readable account of how the Indian fits into this picture. The book is not, nor does it pretend to be, an historical account of the Indian separate from the "white man". It is ironic-but understandable-that this series on American civilization should devote so little attention to the pre-Columbus period of this hemisphere’s history.

The book is divided into six chapters the titles to which explain the book’s scope: "Colonial Preparation," "Foes and Friends, 1776-1816," Indian Removal, 1816-1850," "The Warriors’ Last Stand, 1840-1876," "Acculturation Under Duress," and "The Indian New Deal and After." Since each of these sections easily could be expanded into a book the question arises, what did the author sacrifice to achieve this brevity? The book is only 171 pages with less than the average number of words per page. He achieved this largely by choosing to eliminate detail. For instance, the encounter between the Navahos and Kit Carson is reduced to a sentence, "The Navahos, after suffering several hundred casualties and seeing their crops destroyed and sheep butchered, did the same." (That is, agreed to locate on a reservation.) The controlling factor on what the author wanted to say appears to be the size of the book rather than the knowledge of the author or the significance of the event. Professor Hagan’s skill as a writer is demonstrated by his ability to condense so much and include so many dates and names and still retain an acceptable level of readability.

Professor Hagan is professor of History at North Texas State College and is the author of The Sac and Fox Indians, published in 1958. American Indians, in addition to being a good account of the history of the relationship between the Indian and the "white man", includes a worthwhile suggested reading list.