| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.2

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Sagwitch: Shoshone Chieftain, Mormon Elder, 1822–1887. By Scott R. Christensen. (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1999. xviii, 254 pp. Cloth, $36.95, ISBN 0-87421-271-5. Paper, $19.95, ISBN 0-87421-270-7.)

Writing the biography of a native person who lived before the twentieth century presents daunting challenges. Traditional source materials are limited or nonexistent, and all are the product of outsiders. Such nontraditional subjects demand nontraditional approaches. In his biography of the Northwestern Shoshone leader Sagwitch, Scott R. Christensen handles these difficulties with limited success. That the author chose this important though little-known leader represents an important step forward. His inclusion of oral histories provided by Sagwitch's descendants also deserves commendation. Yet, while Christensen asserts that Sagwitch's "story was far more complex" than he first supposed, that complexity is obscured by a very traditional approach to history and biography. . . .

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