| THE
RUMBLE OF A DISTANT DRUM
The Quapaws and Old World Newcomers, 1673–1804
Morris S. Arnold
Fascinating
story of the Quapaws in colonial Arkansas
•Winner
of the S. G. Ragsdale Award for Arkansas History
•Winner of the Booker Worthen Literary Prize
The
Rumble of a Distant Drum opens in 1673 when Marquette
and Jolliet sailed down the Mississippi River and found the
Quapaw living in the area where the Arkansas River flowed
into the Mississippi. In 1686 Henri de Tonti would found Arkansas
Post in this same location. It was the first European settlement
in this part of the country, established thirty years before
New Orleans and eighty before St. Louis.
Morris
S. Arnold draws on his many years of archival research and
writing on colonial Arkansas to produce this elegant account
of the cultural intersections of the French and Spanish with
the native American peoples. He demonstrates that the Quapaws
and Frenchmen created a highly symbiotic society in which
the two disparate peoples became connected in complex and
subtle ways—through intermarriage, trade, religious
practice, and political/military alliances.
“The
best book on the subject. . . . Highly recommended.”
—Library Journal
“It is indeed a pleasure to recommend a book that looks
objectively at colonial diplomacy from the tribal point of
view.”
—Journal of the West
“A very valuable book on one of the earliest and least
known outposts of the French and Spanish empires.”
—Louisiana History
"Arnold's
clear, non-polemic narrative most importantly humanizes the
Quapaws, stripping away platitudes and stereotypes and giving
them back their roles as complex actors in the colonial adventures
of the region."
—Ann M. Early, State Archaeologist
Morris S. Arnold is a United States Circuit Judge
for the Eighth Circuit and a past winner of the state’s
highest literary award, the Porter Prize. He is the author
of a number of books, including the prize-winning Colonial
Arkansas, 1686–1804: A Social and Cultural History
and Unequal
Laws unto a Savage Race: European Legal Tradition in Arkansas,
1686–1836.
NOW
IN PAPER!
March
2007
6 x 9, 254 pages, 30 illustrations and maps, index
$18.95 (s) paper
978-1-55728-839-4 | 1-55728-839-9
2000
$35.00 cloth
978-1-55728-590-4 | 1-55728-590-X
|
