Book Review

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Book Review | The Journal of American History, 86.1 | The History Cooperative

The Great Law and the Longhouse: A Political History of the Iroquois Confederacy. By William N. Fenton. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998. xxii, 786 pp. $70.00, isbn 0-8061-3003-2.)

This synthesis of the history of the Iroquois Confederacy pushes the boundaries of what is usually meant by "history" beyond established norms. As William N. Fenton, dean of Iroquoianists, conceived his task, the story of the confederacy could only be fully understood if its basis in beliefs, rituals, and ceremonies were clearly laid out. The result is a cross-disciplinary study that illustrates the fundamental continuity between oral and written historical traditions. 1

As Fenton describes it, Iroquois oral annalists periodize their history through the achievements of three prophets. The first is Sapling, the culture bearer, who gave the earth its character; the second is Deganawidah, the peacemaker, who founded the League of Five Nations, which became the Iroquois Confederacy; the third is Handsome Lake, the Seneca prophet who brought the Good Message, the Law of the Longhouse. Each period has its own body of myths that profoundly influenced the character of Iroquois society and was a major factor in its survival in the face of colonial challenges. It was not so much a question of rejecting change, if that had been feasible, as one of controlling it. . . .

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