Living with Strangers (2006)

[Californian]

Living with Strangers: The Nineteenth-Century Sioux and the Canadian-American Borderlands, by David Grant McCrady, 2006 University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln NE, hardcover, octavo format, 176 p.

Living with Strangers tells the story of the Sioux who moved into the Canadian-American borderlands in the later years of the nineteenth century. David G. McCrady's award-winning study crosses national boundaries to examine how Native peoples on both sides of the border reacted to the arrival of the Sioux. Using material from archives across North America, including Canadian and American government documents, Lakota winter counts, and oral histories, McCrady reveals that the nineteenth-century Sioux acted with spirited self-interest across the Canadian-American border. 

The Sioux's shifting tactical use of the Canada-United States boundary helped them to create cross-border trading competitions, to open negotiations with both governments to determine which country would accord them better treatment, and to use the border as a shield in times of war with the United States. Living with Strangers takes readers beyond the traditional dichotomy of the Canadian and the American West to reveal significant and previously unknown strands in Sioux history. 

The story of the Sioux who moved into the Canadian-American borderlands in the later years of the nineteenth century is told in its entirety for the first time here. Previous histories have been divided by national boundaries and have focused on the famous personages involved, paying scant attention to how Native peoples on both sides of the border reacted to the arrival of the Sioux. Using material from archives across North America, Canadian and American government documents, Lakota winter counts, and oral history, Living with Strangers reveals how the nineteenth-century Sioux were a people of the borderlands. The Sioux made great tactical use of the Canada–United States boundary. They traded with the Métis of Canada—often in contraband goods such as arms and ammunition—and tried to get better prices from European traders by drawing the Hudson’s Bay Company into competition with American traders. They opened negotiations with both Canadian and American officials to determine which government would accord them better treatment, and they used the boundary as a shield in times of warfare with the United States. Until now, the Canadian-American borderlands and the people who live there have remained a blind spot in Canadian and American nationalist historiographies. Living with Strangers takes readers beyond the traditional dichotomy of the Canadian and the American West and reveals significant and previously unknown strands in Sioux history. 

[Californian]

this book is actually based on the doctoral dissertation of the author dated 1998 and available complete in PDF format online - please see attachments. Due to size, the original manuscript had to be divided into 3 parts

Living With Strangers by David G. McCrady 1....pdf (2.84 MB)


Living With Strangers by David G. McCrady 1....pdf (2.99 MB)


Living With Strangers by David G. McCrady 1....pdf (2.59 MB)

[grahamew]

This is a really good book. Surprised that it wasn't in the bibliography of Utley's The Last Sovereigns.

[Californian]

finally having taken the time to read it in its entirety I can say as much - it is primarily a doctoral dissertation and the prose of the text is accordingly, meaning scholarly. It is quite thorough and highlights the interaction/relationship of the Dakota and Lakota peoples with both, the British controlled Dominion of Canada and the United States as, what the author calls, a "borderlands" aboriginal people that freely interacted on both sides of the 49th parallel. The author states rightly that primarily the Dakotas and Lakotas have been viewed by historians as United States Indians, rather than Canadian, and thus history writing was always under that perception. McCrady's work highlights a different angle and thus a more comprehensive viewpoint. I suppose the book is more geared for the academic reader, rather than the general public. It is a valuable contribution to any historian and parties interested in Dakota and Lakota history.