Time Of Anarchy: Indigenous Power And The Crisis Of Colonialism In Early America, by Matthew Kruer

I hope that this author got the social credit boost he was looking for, because this book fails miserably as a history. The author states that one knows the agendas and hidden purposes of historians from the histories that are written, and in few cases is such cynicism as well-rewarded as in this case, where the author claims that colonial societies were rigid and hierarchical merely because the divine right theories were so, even though colonial societies and indigenous ones were rather similar in featuring leadership that had to prove itself and ordinary people who were often willing and able to buck authority and go their own way when it suited their interests, and to push authorities to respond to their own interests even if they would rather not. One of the more hilarious, if not tragic, aspects of this book is the way that the author praises the suppleness of the diplomacy of the Susquehannocks, despite the fact that even at the end of this book, when they have restored their power base in central Pennsylvania, they were only a generation away from a destruction so complete that no surviving tribe remains to be recognized even in such times as these that are immensely favorable to the restoration of native identities. That does not make this book worthless, but the author’s benefit is mainly in transmitting the information of his sources, because what he tries to add in his own analysis and commentary is biased, frequently incoherent and inconsistent with what he says elsewhere, and filled with all kinds of speculations designed to puff up his chosen protagonists.

This book has about 250 pages or so of core content. It begins with a note on names and dates. It then contains a prologue where the author states his biases pretty clearly, seeking to earn those ESG brownie points, no doubt. The first chapter of the book discusses the struggle for order in Gandastogue (Conastoga) and English America that was going on in 1675. This is followed by a chapter on rumors of war that demonstrates the power of rumor to bring about anxiety and fear in remote frontier populations (2). This is followed by a discussion of the scattering of the Susquehannock peoples in the face of dramatic hostility from the Iroquois to their north, which included efforts to flee to Virginia and North Carolina as well as the Delaware River basin, among other places (3). This is followed by a discussion of the conspiracy that racked Virginia, Maryland, and even New York at this time (4). The author then discusses the covenants that were made in the aftermath of various military efforts to seek to restore peace, which did not apparently include the reluctant Susquehannocks (5). This is followed by a chapter on how it was that the demographic strength of these peoples among the Iroquois lead, for a time, to a shaping of Iroquois behavior towards the ends of the Susquehannocks (6), and a discussion of the resurgence of the Susquehannock people during a time where colonial regimes remained, in many cases, in a period of crisis (7). This is followed by an epilogue which notes that the people at the time could not have known that this supposed resurgence would only last for a few more decades before the protagonists of this story would be wiped out altogether–another story for another time, perhaps. After that the book closes with abbreviations, notes, acknowledgements, and an index.

While this book in many ways is a strong candidate for a how-to-guide on how-not-to-write a history book, there are at least a few areas of this book that are of interest to at least some readers. The author, in discussing conspiracy theories, does point out some important ways where the time of crisis discussed here during the last third of the 18th century is similar in many ways to our own, where incompetent authorities struggle to deal with populism, and where powerful people seek to form cabals to shape the world according to their shadowy and malign designs. And if the author is too much of a booster for the indigenous peoples to be taken seriously as a reasonable historian, his praise of the efforts of Pennsylvania to have honorable relations with the tribes in its borders is well worthwhile, if his praise of corrupt autocrats like Andros is unsettling in its implications. Most poignantly, this book is a reminder that in a world where identity politics are of pivotal importance, it is a distressing and often impossible task to prove that one is different when one is lumped in the same categories as well, and in that the populist hostility to corrupt elites often manifests itself most aggressively in attacks on the most vulnerable who happen to be those whom those corrupt elites are, for a variety of reasons, including self-interest, trying to protect. Almost in spite of itself, this book offers some intriguing lessons on politics and statecraft in the 1670s and 1680s, where native and colonial regimes both struggled to keep their peoples together and deal with the vengeful spirit of people who demanded recompense for the losses they had suffered in deadly combat. Despite his efforts at trying to paint native regimes as superior to colonial ones, what stand out when one looks at the campaigns are the similarities that were involved in various efforts at diplomacy, warfare, and politics among the peoples of the Chesapeake and Mid-Atlantic colonies and their hinterlands.