Cannibalism, Headhunting and Human Sacrifice in North America: A History Forgotten
by George Franklin Feldman
Alan C Hood & Co, 2008http://www.historynerds.com
Our Lauded Forefathers at their Worst
Nature is red in tooth and claw. Scholars who have looked past A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving into what really happened with the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock will know: human history is equally savage, bloody and brutal.
George Franklin Feldman uses original written accounts and archaeological evidence to illustrate the barbarity that is often cartooned out of American history books. The European explorers we have named parks, highways, towns, counties and funky cars after were not on a five-year mission to seek out new life and new civilizations. The natives they encountered were far from unspoiled agrarians who would cry at the first sight of litter. In more than a dozen chapters stretching from prehistory to the Indian wars of the Western Frontier, Cannibalism, Headhunting and Human Sacrifice in North America: A History Forgotten highlights select warlike tribes, conquistadors, Puritans, and horrendous individual atrocities which show our lauded forefathers at their worst.
One example chapter covered the Calusa Indians of south-western Florida. Their name for themselves translated as "fierce people." They truly lived up to it. Whether dominating surrounding tribes or massacring Spanish sailors when treasure fleets wrecked upon the Florida Keys, the Calusa delighted in slavery, torture and human sacrifice. One young castaway, Hernando D'Escalante Fontaneda, was allowed to survive, and spent twenty years among them. Upon being released, Fontaneda returned to Spain and penned a memoir. Feldman brings its grisly details of life among the Calusa to modern readers. Diaries of missionaries, soldiers, and other original observers are extensively featured. The research supporting the chapter is impressive. These sources even convey an account of the first "mooning" in American history- of Catholic missionaries by the Calusa, who were firmly dedicated to their own religious beliefs! The author's interweaving prose is informed and engaging. A clear impression is conveyed concisely: the Calusa are the natives who shot Juan Ponce de Leon when he attempted to establish a colony in 1521, and whose savage ferocity held off Spanish might for two hundred more years.
Feldman's book is culturally balanced: equal barbarity is illustrated from Indian, English, American, Mexican and Spanish parties. To continue with Floridian examples, Feldman describes the expedition of a conquistador named Panfilo de Narvaez. His force was annihilated, and given their extreme violence, arrogance and inhumanity, that was no injustice. Reading what horrors these nations inflicted upon each other, it becomes easier to understand the genocide which occurred on this continent. Cannibalism, Headhunting and Human Sacrifice in North America lets us know what lessons from history modern man should never be repeating.
I also recommend this book to college History majors (or those who are considering that area) as a good introduction to several events and episodes in American history not covered in the standard high school or History 101 text. Feldman's chapters provide an interesting overview of, for instance, King Philip's War (1675-76), Comanche history, and European exploration of the Pacific Northwest. Though incomplete- almost anecdotal in comparison to full histories of these topics- these colorful introductions are likely to prompt true scholars to seek further material.
For anyone with a weak stomach or superficial personality, Cannibalism, Headhunting and Human Sacrifice in North America is not a book to enjoy. Ticket scalpers are as close as you should come. Feldman's catalogue of cruelty will leave even desensitized cynics with nightmares. There are a couple typos, too. Use them as an excuse if you really don't wish to read accounts of what Apaches inflicted upon unfortunate pioneers.
The one gap in Feldman's work is that he fails to consider the impact of the living dead. Max Brooks (2003) provides relevant historical anecdotes which are strangely overlooked in Cannibalism, Headhunting and Human Sacrifice in North America. For instance, Brooks reveals that the Roanoke Island colony was wiped out in the late 1580's not by the popularly-held Indian attack, but by zombies. Zombie outbreaks go a long way toward explaining the archaeological evidence of flesh eating and violent decapitation amongst Native American tribes.
Critical Mick is just joking.
Critical Mick is definitely a history nerd: Either a little humor or a big glass of whiskey is needed to accompany material this horrific. George Franklin Feldman's book is in Chuck Palahniuk's category: a read that will test how well you can hold the contents of your stomach. But for bravely introducing history at its most terrible real, Cannibalism, Headhunting and Human Sacrifice in North America: A History Forgotten ranks as the finest work of popular anthropology I have read on early American history since Jack Weatherford's Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America. For opening eyes- often wide, in horror- Feldman's piece of historical research has earned its place on the list of Best Books that Critical Mick has read in 2009.
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