[Review of] Richard F. Fleck. Henry Thoreau and John Muir Among the Indians

Authors

Robert F. Sayre

Orginal Publication Date

1987

Journal Title

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Volume

7

Issue

ess/vol7/iss1

First Page

28

Last Page

29

Abstract

The idea behind this book, a comparative study of Henry David Thoreau's and John Muir's attitudes toward American Indians, is excellent. Muir, born in 1838, was twenty one years younger than Thoreau. He first read Walden and A Week at the University of Wisconsin in 1862, the year of Thoreau's death. His early writings, although not published until much later, contained generally pro-Indian sentiments similar to Thoreau's , while he also had a Thoreau-like squeamishness about Indians being dirty, lazy, superstitious, and demoralized by contact with whites. "Perhaps if I knew them better, I should like them better," he wrote in My First Summer in the Sierra. "The worst thing about them is their uncleanliness."

Rights

Copyright, ​©EES, The National Association for Ethnic Studies, 1987