A Review of "Deadly Medicine"

Paper Summary:

This paper provides a critique of Peter C. Mancall's book "Deadly Medicine: Indians and Alcohol in Early America". The paper calls Mancall's work an informative and contextually important book, which meets the challenge of providing a balanced historical account of the Native-American experience with alcohol. The paper maintains that Mancall's focus on a historical, rather than anthropological or scientific, view is ambitious and occasionally problematic but does provide a fair account. The paper praises his attempt not to stray into stereotypical assumptions, but rather to find out the causes and effects of the colonial alcohol trade by examining all available source material. It concludes that, rather than summarizing the arguments of those who came before him, Mancall offers a fresh account because he is working directly from primary sources and highly relevant secondary sources.

From the Paper:

"Mancall's book provides a fresh viewpoint in what currently exists in the subject's literature. It is obvious that he was aware of what had already been covered, as he explains the stereotypes most common to the literature and addresses a number of the current claims and theories. Indeed, a number of the books that cover the subject of Native Americans and alcohol appear in Mancall's cited sources."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Mancall, Peter C. Deadly Medicine: Indians and Alcohol in Early America. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995.

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