Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750-1830.

By Greg O'Brien. Indians of the Southeast. (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, c. 2002. Pp. [xxx], 158. $45.00, ISBN 0-8032-3569-0.)

The first paragraph of Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age ends with the assertion that, in nineteenth-century Choctaw country, "[t]raditional ideological beliefs ... were disintegrating in the face of changing notions of economics, politics, and, most importantly, power" (p. xi). Power, in fact, is at the heart of this excellent book. Greg O'Brien, more so than any other scholar, has investigated the Choctaws' evolving conceptions of power and the impact these changes had on their society. The result is a sensitive reading of a critical era in Choctaw history that will lead historians to rethink the relationships between Native politics, religion, trade, and warfare.

O'Brien's book centers on Taboca and Franchimastabe, contemporaries (both died in 1801) whose life histories demonstrate the shifting bases of chiefly authority. Simply put, by the early nineteenth century, powerful Choctaws deployed material markers of status--primarily acquired from Euro-Americans--rather than the "mastery of spiritual forces" relied upon by previous generations (p. xviii). This transition was not embraced by all, nor did it represent a complete erasure of Choctaw traditions. It did, however, produce novel "notions about appropriate authority and ... new ways of thinking about society" (p. xviii). Taboca and Franchimastabe are illustrative of the transition: the former "remained deeply rooted in the spiritual realm as the source of his authority," while the latter "straddled the fence between spiritual power and economic control for the basis of his own high status" (p. xix). O'Brien's signal contribution comes from his ability to explicate Choctaw ideas about power. "Spiritual power," he insists, "was not merely a religious belief but also a behavioral model and a social structure" (p. 5). All power centered on the "creative processes" (p. 13) that were manifested in "politics, warfare, diplomacy, and trade," and these four "arenas" of power provide the "structural framework" of O'Brien's study (p. 3). Chapter 1 discusses Choctaw conceptions of power, then chapters 2 through 5 take the "arenas" in turn: for example, focusing on the creation of a Choctaw polity after 1750, the ways that success in war demonstrated male power, and how authority was derived from diplomatic relations with outsiders. Although thematically organized, these four chapters are also broadly chronological. Thus, the fifth chapter's discussion of Choctaw leaders' growing dependence on trade is centered on the late eighteenth century. Finally, O'Brien uses chapter 6 to bring his narrative into the nineteenth century, where the end results of the new Choctaw paradigm of power are visible.

O'Brien, then, has given us a carefully argued, clearly structured, and extremely concise (128 pages of text) book. It is, however, tempting to speculate about the insights he might have produced in a longer work. The concluding chapter on the nineteenth century, for example, could have been expanded to consider the careers of later chiefs. He might also have devoted more time to linking the power-centered transition to other changes (involving, say, livestock or gender roles) that were occurring in Choctaw life. That O'Brien's book left me wishing for more, though, is a testament to the freshness of his work.

JOSHUA PIKER 

University of Oklahoma