Bøger af James Laxer

The remarkable memoir of growing up in a communist family at the height of the Cold War by the late esteemed historian, public intellectual, and political activist James Laxer, the bestselling author of Staking Claims to a Continent, now reissued in a handsome A List edition.

Two hundred years after his death, the Shawnee chief Tecumseh is still considered one of the greatest leaders of North America''s First Peoples. This pictorial biography tells the story of his remarkable life, culminating in the events of the War of 1812. Tecumseh (meaning "shooting star" in Shawnee) was named after the meteor that auspiciously streaked across the sky on the night he was born. He lived during turbulent times, when the thirteen colonies that were to become the United States had begun to rebel against British rule, and settlers were pushing westward, rapidly encroaching on the traditional lands of the native peoples. Tecumseh and his family were forced to move many times as their villages came under frequent attack from militiamen and settlers. His father and his older brother Cheeseekau were both killed in battles with the settlers. Tecumseh spent his youth learning the skills that would make him a hunter and warrior. At the age of twenty-five he became chief of his own village. As he grew older, influenced by his visionary younger brother, "The Prophet," Tecumseh realized that unless all native peoples came together to form a great confederacy, they would never be able to hold onto their land. And so he began to travel great distances with this message, encouraging the Muscogees, Kickapoos, Winnebagos, Potawatomis, Ottawas and Sacs to join forces with him against the Americans. Tecumseh was a great orator and became a rallying figure for the beleaguered tribes, warning William Henry Harrison, Governor of the Indiana Territory, and others that if the US did not return the lands they had taken, there would be war. On June 18, 1812, the US declared war on Great Britain. Tecumseh sided with the British, hoping to create an independent native state north of the Ohio River, between the US and Canada. He developed a magnetic friendship with Brock, commander of the British troops, who recognized that he was "a gallant warrior," and together they took Fort Detroit. But shortly afterwards Brock was killed in the battle of Queenston Heights. Tecumseh was disgusted when the British began to retreat. "You always told us," he declared to Major General Procter, "that you would never draw your foot off British ground; but now, father, we see you are drawing back… We must compare our father''s conduct to a fat animal, that carries its tail upon its back, but when affrighted, it drops between its legs, and runs off." He rallied those loyal to him and fought on relentlessly, but was finally killed in the Battle of Moraviantown in 1813. An epilogue looks at what happened after Tecumseh''s death, including the peace negotiations that finally ended the War of 1812. Tecumseh''s dreams were never fulfilled, but he remains a symbol of justice for the First Peoples of the Americas.James Laxer''s informative, accessible text is based on reminiscences written by Stephen Ruddell, a white boy who was raised by the Shawnees, on the oral traditions of the Shawnees and other native peoples, and on accounts written by officials in the United States government and British military officers who knew Tecumseh. Combined with Richard Rudnicki''s exceptional illustrations, which have been thoroughly researched for historical accuracy, this an outstanding pictorial biography. Includes maps, timeline and glossary.

At the turn of the nineteenth century, the British Empire is at the height of its ascendancy; Napoleonic France is struggling to maintain its position as a world power; and the incumbent American empire is quickly expanding its territory, while the Native peoples struggle to establish their own confederacy, their own independent nation.Bestselling author, historian, political scientist, and scholar James Laxer offers a fresh and compelling view of this decisive war — which historians have long treated as a second American revolution — by bringing to life the Native struggle for nationhood and sovereignty; the battle between the British Empire and the United States over Upper and Lower Canada; and finally, at the heart of it, the unlikely friendship and political alliance of two towering figures of history: Tecumseh, the Shawnee chieftain and charismatic leader of the Native confederacy, and Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, protector and defender of the British Empire.Highly engaging and impeccably researched, Tecumseh and Brock is a powerful work of history, an epic story of empires and emerging nations, of politics and power, and of two leaders whose legacy still lives on today.

Now available in paperback, Tecumseh and Brock is a powerful and compelling new work on the War of 1812, from bestselling author, historian, political scientist, and scholar James Laxer.At the dawn of the nineteenth century, the British Empire is engaged in a titanic war with Napoleonic France for global supremacy. The American Republic is quickly expanding its territory along the western frontier, while native peoples struggle to protect their lands from the relentless wave of new settlers. James Laxer offers a fresh and compelling view of this decisive war, by bringing to life two major contests: the native peoples¿ Endless War to establish nationhood and sovereignty on their traditional territories and the American campaign to settle its grievances with Britain through the conquest of Canada. At the heart of this story is the unlikely friendship and political alliance of Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief and charismatic leader of the native confederacy, and Major General Isaac Brock, defender and protector of the British Crown. Together, these two towering figures secured what would become the nation of Canada. Vividly rendered and passionately depicted, Tecumseh and Brock is a highly engaging, impeccably researched, and powerful work of history.