DEBO, ANGIE. The Road to Disappearance. Pp. xii, 399. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1941. $3.50

• Author: Morris Edward Opler
• DOI: 10.1177/000271624222100175
• Published date: 01 May 1942
• Date: 01 May 1942
• Subject Matter: Articles

233

the

implicit

minimizing,

Sarkar

believes,

of

their

economic,

political,

and

military

achievements,

he

himself

stresses

the

ca-

pacities

of

the

Indians

for

material

progress

and

the

capacities

of

the

Occidentals

(to

return

the

compliment!)

for

mystic

and

metaphysical

achievements.

Although

the

defense

of

the

less

heralded

portions

of

India’s

cultural

heritage

is

ob-

viously

one

of

Sarkar’s

major

motivations,

he

exhibits

streaks

of

political

and

economic

realism.

On

the

one

hand

he

argues

that

British

imperialism

was

not

imposed

on

India

without

some

democratic

&dquo;consent&dquo;

of

the

people,

and

he

favors

an

international

policy

for

India

which

will

protect

her

and

supply

her

with

foreign

capital

needed

for

her

industrialization.

On

the

other

hand,

consonant

with

the

idea

of

keeping

all

the

rich

diversity

of

India’s

heritage

intact

(and

with

his

protest

against

the

exclusion

of

Oriental

immigrants

from

the

United

States),

he

opposes

the

alleged

assumption

of

Western

political

scientists

that

the

ideal

state

should

contain

people

of

one

race,

one

language,

one

religion,

one

culture.

India’s

poverty

is

no

indication

of

&dquo;over-

population&dquo;

in

Sarkar’s

mind,

and

he

issues

no

call

for birth

control.

The

blood

of

the

lower

castes

is

replacing

that

of

the

upper;

and

rather

than

cut

down

the

populace

of

a

people

heading

again

for

world-embracing

leadership

in

culture,

he

seems

content

to

wait

for

industrialization.

Gandhi’s

handi-

craft

program,

he

rejects

as

one-sided

and

utterly

inadequate.

As

for

the

Indian

Na-

tionalist

Party,

he

tears

the

shroud

from

the

industrial

bourgeoisie

who

are

financing

its

leaders

for

their

own

private

ends.

In

spite

of

the

superlative

estimates

of

Sarkar’s

admirers,

it

must

be

admitted

in

all

candor

that

some

of

the

material

in

the

volume

is

of

too

simple

a

nature

to

be

ac-

ceptable

for

publication

in

our

economic

and

sociological

journals,

while other

parts

of

it

draw

enthusiasm

from

the

writers

be-

cause

it

summarizes

movements

and

ideas

quite

current

in

the

West

but

unfamiliar

to

them.

Such

considerations,

however,

should

not

deter

the

open-minded

among

Occi-

dentals

from

getting

acquainted

with

the

thoughts

of

wide-ranging

Orientals

like

Benoy

Sarkar,

and

from

being

prodded

out

of

some

of

our

smug

ethnocentric

Occi-

dentalism

and

into

some

stimulating

Orien-

tal

viewpoints.

MAURICE

T.

PRICE

University

of

Illinois

DEBO,

ANGIE.

The

Road

to

Disappearance.

Pp.

xii,

399.

Norman:

University

of

Oklahoma

Press,

1941.

$3.50.

The

history

of

the

Creek

Indians

has

re-

ceived

partial

treatment

before,

especially

by

Grant

Foreman

and

A.

H.

Abel

in

their

writings

on

more

comprehensive

topics.

This

is

the

first

book,

however,

which

de-

votes

full

attention

to

the

story

of

these

interesting

people.

Miss

Debo

borrows

from

anthropological

data,

particularly

from

the

writings

of

Swanton

and

Speck,

to

reconstruct

the

pic-

ture

of

Creek

society

at

first

white

contact.

She

describes

the

Creek

position

in

the

old

southeast,

that of

a

dominant

confederacy

of

powerful

&dquo;towns&dquo;

located

in

what

are

now

the

states

of

Alabama

and

Georgia.

This

section

could

have

been

strengthened

by

use

of

some

of

the

most

recent

material

on

the

political

structure

of

the

Indians

of

the

southeast,

particularly

the

researches

of

Dr.

Mary

Haas

relating

to

Creek

intertown

relations.

Nevertheless,

Miss

Debo

gives

a

vivid

and

vigorous

account

of

town

govern-

ment,

town

alignments,

and

the

ceremonies

and

duties

which

centered

around

the

town

in

ancient

times.

The

idalwa

or

Creek

&dquo;town&dquo;

had

many

characteristics

which

we

ordinarily

associate

with

a

band

or

tribe-

independence,

territory,

and

separate

lead-

ership.

The

ties

which

bound

these

units

of

the

nation

together

were

chiefly

those

of

common

culture

and

tradition.

The

&dquo;road

to

disappearance&dquo;

with

which

Miss

Debo

is

primarily

concerned

is

the

procession

of

treaties,

aggressions,

and

arbi-

trary

decisions

by

which

the

Creek

have

been

successively

divested

of

their

lands

and

their

status

as

a

nation.

This

process

began

in

1739,

when

territorial

concessions

were

made

to

Oglethorpe.

Successive

re-

treats

in

1773, 1790,

1802,

1805,

1814,

1818,

1821,

1826,

and

1827

led

finally

to

the

removal

treaty

of

1832

which

forced

these

unhappy

people

to

leave

their

homes

for

territory

west

of

the

Mississippi

River.

Approximately

half

of

them

survived

the

horrible

journey

and

the

depredations

of

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