THE WRITING of history is subject to fashions as new social attitudes direct attention to formerly neglected or "misunderstood" aspects of American life. And so it is with the history of the American Indians. Their story has long fascinated scholars and the inspired amateurs who have created a vast literature on the subject. Perhaps too much of this effort was directed at describing Indian peoples largely through their interaction with Euro- Americans. Familiar stereotypes resulted -- the courageous frontiersmen defending their lonely forest plots from savage attack; the idle Indian failing to develop the rich lands he inhabited and standing in the way of those who would. Some writers made romantic figures of tribal life and leaders. Few, however, showed Indians as real people subject to the full range of human virtues and vices, people who had their own legitimate views about the significance of white intrusion and how best to counteract or adapt to it.
The raising of social consciousness in the post- World War II era led to a plethora of studies directed at formerly neglected or underplayed segments of American society -- women, minorities, immigrants. In like manner, a new generation of scholars reevaluated American Indian history. In this process historians expanded their reach by borrowing techniques