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Tecumseh and the Prophet: The Shawnee Brothers Who Defied a Nation
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72
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
67/100Critics
77/100Scholars
Author:
Peter Cozzens
Publisher:
Knopf
Date:
October 27, 2020
Until the Americans killed Tecumseh in 1813, he and his brother Tenskwatawa were the co-architects of the broadest pan-Indian confederation in United States history. In previous accounts of Tecumseh's life, Tenskwatawa has been dismissed as a talentless charlatan and a drunk. But award-winning historian Peter Cozzens now shows us that while Tecumseh was a brilliant diplomat and war leaderâadmired by the same white Americans he opposedâit was Tenskwatawa, called the Shawnee Prophet, who created a vital doctrine of religious and cultural revitalization that unified the disparate tribes of the Old Northwest.
What The Reviewers Say
Mr. Cozzens puts his narrative skills to great use. His compelling prose and deep research in both primary sources and histories of the period combine to place the reader on the ground with the Shawnee brothers. He clearly explains the complicated geography and history of this contested place and time.
... fresh insight into the injustices the United States visited upon its Native population.
Tecumenseh's life and wider struggle for the Great Lakes and Ohio River valley now has a current, solid work by an accomplished author..
[An] enthralling, deeply researched dual biography.
