Book review: I Am a Man
“I Am A Man: chief standing Bear’s journey for justice” is a book written by Starita Joe. The author has used the book to explain the injustices that the Ponca people suffered. The theme I the book is injustice. The author uses the Ponca people to explore the theme of injustice. The Ponca people suffered a lot of injustice done by the united state government. Injustices are common in the current society, and they have adverse effects on the citizens. For example, injustices in the country cause death, suffering and starvation to the people. Examples of injustices in the society include eviction of people using force and misuse of power by the government. The injustices evidenced in 19th century by the Ponca people are common in the current society (Starita, 2010).The injustices happened late 19th century. In the 19th century, chief standing Bear was the leader of the Ponca people.
The main reason the events happened is because the Ponca people had no powers to protect themselves. So the government took the advantage and oppressed Ponca people. The author believes that the injustices in the society and misuse of power caused the suffering of Ponca citizens. In 1877, the government had more powers than the Ponca citizens. The government claimed that it had allocated the original land to the Lakota SIOUX in the 1868. The incidence made the Ponca people suffer a lot (Starita, 2010).Other authors have not written on the topic. Starita Joe has written other editions on the same topic. The author has explored the same theme in other editions. Other authors have criticized the work published by Starita Joe. The authors do not agree with the main theme in the book. They argue that the author of the book “I Am A Man: chief standing Bear’s journey for justice” created more problems for Native people than before. Examples of the books written to criticize Starita Joe include “The Standing Bear Controversy: Prelude to Indian Reform”. The book is written by Valerie sherer mathes and Richard lowitt’s.
The book shows how Starita Joe caused more problems for Natives than before by creating the Dawe Act. There is a need for other books on the topics because the topic is important. The topic analyzes cause of injustices and how injustices affect citizens. Injustices are common, and people should write more on the topic. This will make it easy for people to eliminate injustices like land grabbing and misuse of power (Starita, 2010).The topic addressed in the book has become common in the society. Injustices in the society have become a hot topic. Most governments oppress citizens by grabbing land or through other methods. People in the society need various mechanisms to address the injustices in the society (Starita, 2010).The author has used several arguments and evidences to support his theme. In the book, Starita shows how the US government took away the land occupied by Ponca people. In 1887, the government evicted the Ponca people from their original land and gave the land to the Lakota SIOUX. The government claimed that it had given the land earlier in 1868 to the same person.
The Ponca people were forced to move from the Nebraska to Oklahoma. This shows how the government caused suffering to the Ponca people as they had to leave their original homeland to settle in other places (Starita, 2010).Another evidence to show the injustices done to the community by the federal government is the arrest of standing bear. Standing bear was arrested when he went to bury his son in their original homeland. The arrest is a sign of injustices and how people interfere with citizen rights. Standing bear struggled hard to bury his son in their originals home land, but he did not succeed (Starita, 2010).The author shows the bad relationship between Ponca people and the US government. The book targets scholarly audience. The author assumes that the reader has prior knowledge on the topic or related topic (Starita, 2010).The author has used maps and illustrations to support his argument. In addition, the author has provided a glossary and charts in his work. At the end, of the book the author has included a bibliography list and foot notes. The bibliography list contains resources used to carry out research. The illustrations used in the book complement the text provided by the author.
Lastly, the captions used in the book are adequate (Starita, 2010).The author has provided enough evidences to support his theme. The evidences used in the book are standard. The evidence provided in the book support the thesis of the author. This is because the evidence shows the injustices in the society. For example, the author has shown the poor relationship between the Ponca people and the US government. The resources that the author consulted are appropriate. The resources have provided evidences to support the author’s thesis. Thus, the resources are up to date and good (Starita, 2010).The method the historian used to analyze the book is good. The method has helped the author provide enough evidence to support the main theme in the book. The author could have used other methods like interviews to get more information and also observation (Starita, 2010).The author has organized the book well. He has organized the book into different units and enough evidence to support the units. Moreover, the author is persuasive. He uses the right language to persuade the reader to read the book (Starita, 2010).
Reference
Starita, J. (2010).”I Am a Man”: Chief Standing Bear’s Journey for Justice. St. Martin’s Press
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