In his book Facing East from Indian Country, Daniel Richter examines the colonization of America through the perspective of Native Americans. He shows that Native American civilizations had complex societies that existed for thousands of years before European arrival, yet their history has largely been left out of accounts of colonization. Richter uses sources like translations of Native languages to understand their cultural differences with colonists, such as incorporating gift-giving into treaties. These differences led to misunderstandings and conflict as colonists sought to dominate Native lands and ways of life. By facing east from the Native viewpoint, Richter provides a more comprehensive telling of America's history.

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Facing East from Indian Country a Native History of Early America
Daniel Richter
Shepherd University
Krista Kyker
A Book Review for History 201 Section 1 Dr. Bankhurst MWF-9:10-10:00a.m.

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Abstract
This is a book review that seeks to analyze the author’s attempt to characterize the colonization
of America through the eyes of the Native American tribes. Daniel Richter uses the metaphor of
looking east from his position from a hotel window in St. Louis to illustrate the idea of studying
history through all sides of the spectrum. People tend to take what they read in history books as
gospel and do not conceptualize the reality of the time period they are studying through the
perspective of the people involved and their status and station in life. Through careful
consideration and empathy, the author attempts to pull his readers into the real world view of the
Native American ideology and to illuminate the diversity that has built this great nation into the
cultural make-up that exists today. Reality of our past and heritage is just as much a part of this
countries’ historical establishment as is its present situation. Tying the past to the present and
analyzing the contextual bounds of both may help us to understand the evolution of our cultural
diversity in America today.

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Facing East from Indian Country a Native History of Early America
In his novel, Facing East from Indian Country a Native History of Early America,
Daniel K Richter successfully shows the perspective of the Native Americans during
colonization. Since the founding of public education, the story of the colonization of this
country has been told from the white man’s perspective as if this country’s beginning
was a result of European expansion. History text books and high school teachers have
simply left out the fact that complex Native American civilizations existed here for
thousands of years before the Europeans ever set foot on this land. Without the
knowledge or understanding of the history of this land and its aborigines before
colonization, it is impossible to understand the full implications that colonization had on
the land, the people, the environment, and the cultural relationships that tied the land to
its people. Daniel Richter tells the story of colonization through the eyes of the Native
Americans who were displaced from their land but he also strives to include the white
man’s perspective. He uses historical documentation to examine the European
mentality of feeling racially superior to the Native Americans in every way. Richter
maintains that while the Native Americans tried continually to adapt to the material,
economic, religious, and cultural ways of the white man, they were met with disdain and
the European mentality of domination and destruction.
The novel focuses on the ideology that the Native Americans were a complex
society that had survived many different levels of environmental, social, and political
adaptations prior to the arrival of the Europeans. The Europeans themselves may not
have been the downfall of the Indian civilization instead Richter points to the material

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and cultural differences that existed between the two groups which “reshaped the lives
of all Native Americans”1 and the whites as well. The Europeans response to the Native
American’s ability to assimilate could have been a tremendous causational factor that
led to the conflicts and wars that erupted throughout the continent between 1600’s and
the 1800’s. Richter uses the translation of the Indian language into the European
languages as an example of the vast cultural differences between the groups. For
instance a historian can argue that all of the secondary sources that exist are in the
form of translations done by missionaries or scribes.
These translators admittedly had the near impossible task of trying to
understand and document the native tongue into words and phrases that would be
comparable to the European language. The native language that existed in America
during colonization was not only complicated to understand because of the
metaphorical phrases, meanings, and symbols used by the tribes, but there was also a
multitude of different dialects, religious beliefs, and cultural traditions that were tied into
each tribes different language. The loose translations that exist have been drastically
summarized due to their length. Treaties that would have been created between
European nations in a matter of days, took weeks to complete due to the Native
American incorporation of the ritual of reciprocal gift giving and exchange into the treaty
process. The diplomatic and political traditions of the Native culture were carried out
through an intrinsic framework of rituals taking place over weeks. “Gifts were a means
of not only trade but in peace and forgiveness”2 to the Natives. Eventually the European
1Daniel Richter. Facing East from Indian Country a Native History of Early America.( London, England,
Harvard University Press)109.
2 Daniel Richter. Facing East.137

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officials became tired of these traditions, refusing the length of reciprocal gift exchange,
resulting in treaties not being signed. The treaties that were formed were usually
broken by the Europeans. Richter continually points out the incompatibility between the
Native Americans and the Europeans causing misunderstandings which resulted in
conflict. Still, these differences could have been overcome had the Europeans not felt
the need to build their material wealth to unmeasurable heights. Racial barriers and lack
of communications and understanding about the Native beliefs of land usage were the
beginning stages of the European’s Domination over the Indians. By the mid
seventeenth century Metacom was dead, and the Europeans “were determined to
destroy”3 the Natives. Bacon’s rebellion was a turning point that illustrates the colonists’
determination to own all of the Natives land and to break their ties from “Their British”
father who only seemed to sympathize with the Natives and keep the colonists from
driving them out of land in which they wanted to develop. Land was a precious
commodity and when the Iroquois’ helped Britain push out the French resulting in the
Treaty of Easton, they were convinced that Britain would return their land. Instead
squatters and hunters had already breeched the land line and the English colonists
began building houses where the Iroquois’ land had once existed. The Natives losing
their land meant they lost their hunting territory, their agriculture ground for sustenance
farming and they were left even further dependent upon the European goods for
survival. Praying towns began to pop up through the frontier and Natives that did not go
to these protected areas and did not assimilate to the European ways were going to be
destroyed.
3 Daniel Richter. Facing East.137.

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Richter shows his readers the hard cold truth about governmental views on
Native autonomy after they gained their independence from Britain. The British did not
even mention the natives in the Treaty of Paris. John Dickenson summed up the
Western Confederacies ideology about the Natives future when he pointed out that “the
back country with all of the forts is thereby ceded to us; and they (Native Americans)
must now depend upon us for their preservation.”4 It was made clear at the Battle of
Fallen Timbers that the remaining officials at the British Forts would not risk the lives of
their men to support the Natives. They feared the wrath of the newly independent
Americans and locked the natives out of the fort leaving them no choice but to turn
back. Daniel Richter proved his theory that the when the British were forced to leave
their remaining forts per the terms of The Jay’s treaty, the only choice left for the
remaining Natives, was to assimilate and submit, or be executed on the spot. He does
this by examining the next three presidential administrations of Jefferson, Madison, and
Monroe, and their beliefs in Henry Knox’s model of “The Civilization Program”5 Richter
shows that even this attempt to mold remaining peaceful tribes into successful farmers
was a rouse. Most officials within the United States government wanted the Natives to
fall into debt because “debt provided a powerful incentive for some leaders to sign a
series of land-cession treaties”6. This point exemplified the views of land holding over
land usage and showed that the American government had no intentions of supporting
the land line treaties that had been agreed upon in the past. They planned to eventually
own all of the land and the rich resources that belonged to that land.
4 Richter, Facing East. 226
5Richter, Facing East. 227
6 Richter, Facing East. 227

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Daniel Richter successfully shows that when we look east into Indian
Country we can see the story of colonization through different eyes. By facing
east, the message becomes clear, the Natives story remains one of “Triumph
over the Human Spirit”7 The Native American’s were forced to assimilate to
European traditions and their lives were changed by their inability to hunt/farm
their land but also by the introduction of material goods and wealth into their
cultural traditions. However, these are a people that have managed to rise up
above the suffrage and speak of their ancestor’s stories on their terms no matter
the price. Richter’s novel uses examples of Native American’s experiences to
show a different perspective of the history of America. He succeeds in proving
that there are two sides to the story of colonization. The side of the original
inhabitants of this country that chose to respect the land and all of its inhabitants
and the side of the Europeans, who tried to dominate and permanently alter the
environment and the people that existed here before they ever stepped onto this
land.
7 Richter. Facing East.68

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References
Richter, D. (2001). Facing East from Indian Country A Native History of Early America.
London, England: Harvard University Press.