American Indians 2

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point of view. “The problem is that if all accounts of events are determined through and through by the observer’s frame of reference, then one will never know, in any given case, what really happened,” (Tompkins, 410).
Tompkins researched several historians’ works, and in her research, she identified several problems in the interpretive practices of these historians. Tompkins began her research of the misrepresentation of American Indians with Perry Miller’s book Errand into the Wilderness. In his book, Miller writes, “the massive narrative of the movement of European culture into the vacant wilderness of America.” This passage from Miller’s book provokes a shocking response from Tompkins. Tompkins is shocked that Miller referred to America’s wilderness as “vacant.” It is obvious that upon the arrival of European settlers to America, the settlers encountered the Indians at some point in time. Thus, ...

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