If you consider the American Indian to be a blood-thirsty and cruel savage, the above is a good book for you to read. It contains fifteen first-hand accounts of whites captured by the Indians, the months or years of cruel treatment, and the final much desired escape. Accounts contained within the book cover the period of white westward movement from 1750 to 1870 and involve Indians from such widely scattered areas as Biscayne Bay in Florida to Vancouver Island, British Columbia. These stories reveal the heartbreak which occurred almost daily in the American frontier and demonstrate most accurately what strong bodies and personalities our forefathers needed in order to survive along the hinterlands.
There is, however, another side to the story which editor Drimmer has noted. These stories related by the captives give us perhaps the best insight into Indian life that is available. Drimmer explains in his well-written introduction that these accounts have been accepted as authentic since their earliest publication and have frequently been used as sources by historians and anthropologists. Due to lack of education and formal training, Indian informants have not been able to supply all of the information needed, and these accounts by former captives give some needed facts.
The only quarrel this reviewer has with editor Drimmer is the emphasis upon Indian brutality. Even the title Scalps and Tomahawks conveys such an emphasis. In all fairness we must remember that the Indian was subjected to perhaps even more cruel treatment by the whites, and that he and his descendants were forced into reservation areas unwanted by the whites until mineral wealth was discovered there.
