Susan M. Hill’s The Clay We Are Made Of provides both an excellent introduction to Haudenosaunee cultural history and a narrative of the Grand River Territory to 1924. Beginning with the Creation Story and extending through the Great Law of Peace (formation of the Haudenosaunee league) and the Code of Handsome Lake, Hill provides a clear and concise overview of essential aspects of Haudenosaunee history that serves as an interpretive lens for the book’s narrative. Equally significant was the Covenant Chain, a diplomatic and trading relationship that the English and Haudenosaunee developed during the late seventeenth century. Hill identifies a pledge of noninterference in internal affairs as the most important aspect of this relationship. The Grand River Haudenosaunee drew on this tradition to contest British (and Canadian) efforts to undermine their sovereignty.
While offering keen insight into Haudenosaunee cultural history, the book’s examination of the Haudenosaunee’s complicated relations with other...
