This book tells the story of the late colonial and early reservation history of the Seneca Indians, and of the prophet Handsome Lake, his visions, and the moral and religious revitalization of an American Indian society that he and his followers achieved in the years around 1800.

"This book offers an interpretation of anthropology as a discourse that contrasts the western self and the non-western other and shows that the organizing principle of this discourse was the Judeo-Christian episteme of the "Other in Us" that the Christian Church Fathers developed to define why the pagan others were endowed with negative, ungodly attributes of humanity. It is pointed out that the anthropological application of this episteme to represent and explain the colonized non-western others resulted in the emergence of eurocentric, hierarchical models of humanity, and that although these models of humanity were largely replaced by pluralistic models in the late 20 century, anthropology has continued to be linked with the episteme of the other in us"--Dust jacket.

Spellbound: Women and Witchcraft in America is a collection of twelve articles that revisit crucial events in the history of witchcraft and spiritual feminism in this country. Beginning with the "witches" of colonial America, Spellbound extends its focus through the nineteenth century to explore women's involvement with alternative spiritualities, and culminates with examinations of the contemporary feminist neopagan and Goddess movements. A valuable source for those interested in women's history, women's studies, and religious history, Spellbound is also a crucial addition to the bookshelf of anyone tracing the evolution of spiritualism in America.