"A tour de force."—Times Literary Supplement
"A splendid work that is much more than the biography the title suggests."—C.A. Weslager, author of The Delaware Indians
"An ethnohistorical classic. . . . One of the most cited books in Delaware Indian studies. It is also a key source for northeastern Woodland Indian ethnohistory. . . . Subjects addressed by Wallace in Teddyuscung are as timely today as they were when the book first appeared."—Robert S. Grumet, Archeologist, National Park Service
Description
Using a psychological/anthropological approach that he largely invented, Wallace clearly demonstrates—better than anyone before or since—the tragedy of the Delawares’ existence, caught between the English, the French, and the Iroquois. Painting a rich tapestry of the history and culture of the Delawares and of the sociopolitical context of the fraudulent Walking Purchase of 1737, Wallace brings Teedyuscung to life before us. Born in 1700 on the outskirts of Trenton, New Jersey, Teedyuscung was barely able to earn a living as a broom and basket maker along the shabby fringes of the white settlements. He was simultaneously dependent upon, and resentful of, the invaders. The strange mixture of love and hatred for Europeans made him notorious as both the enemy and friend of white settlers. King of the Delawares, with a new preface by the author, provides a fascinating portrait of Teedyuscung, from his early years when he tried to bring white customs to the Delawares, through his long and ardent efforts to regain the lands belonging to his people, and ending with his murder in 1763 by land hungry settlers.
About the Author
Anthony F. C. Wallace, professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, has written some of the most distinguished and ethnological treatises published during the last forty years. Among the better known of these works are Death and Rebirth of the Seneca, a study of the origins and early development of the Iroquois Longhouse religion; Rockdale, an analysis of a nineteenth-century mill town; and St. Clair, an examination of an American mining town. Wallace is perhaps best known as the originator of the influential revitalization paradigm that has guided most studies of religious and culture change since its first appearance in 1956.
Related Interest
November 1990