Gayanögwad's (Phyllis Eileen Wms. Bardeau, Deer Clan) English-Onöndowa'ga:' (Seneca) dictionary is a cultural and linguistic treasure trove. Eileen, a fluent first language speaker and elder, speaks and records the Onöndowa'ga:' language as she learned it from her grandmother, several generations ago before the building of the Kinzua Dam in the 1960s. This tragic treaty violation accelerated language loss by breaking up almost two century old communities at Ohi:yonö' (Allegany Territory residents, Lit. people of the Ohi:yo׳) of the Onöndowa'ga:'. She devoted her life to the preservation of the Onöndowa'ga:' language. Phyllis created Definitive Seneca: It's In The Word as a permanent tool to study culture through language. Gayanögwad has taught the language in the community, for the Seneca Nation, and at the University level. This publication should be in every library for students of the Onöndowa'ga:' Gawë:nö׳ (Language of the People of the Great Hills).

The building of the Kinzua Dam abrogated one of the oldest Indian Treaty with the United States, the 1794 Pickering Treaty. The dam flooded 10,000 acres of Seneca land and damaged the way of life of the Senecas and their elders. The stories of their loss are distressing. The Senecas survived this traumatic event but not without significant cultural change and loss. This is the story of the dislocated Seneca Elders of the Allegany Territory.

"Printed on the Allegany Territory of the Seneca Nation of Indians."--T.p. verso.

The disastrous Buffalo Creek Treaty of 1838 called for the Senecas’ removal to Kansas (then part of the Indian Territory). From this low point, the Seneca Nation of Indians, which today occupies three reservations in western New York, sought to rebound. Beginning with events leading to the Seneca Revolution in 1848, which transformed the nation’s government from a council of chiefs to an elected system, Laurence M. Hauptman traces Seneca history through the New Deal. Based on the author’s nearly fifty years of archival research, interviews, and applied work, Coming Full Circle shows that Seneca leaders in these years learned valuable lessons and adapted to change, thereby preparing the nation to meet the challenges it would face in the post–World War II era, including major land loss and threats of termination. Instead of emphasizing American Indian decline, Hauptman stresses that the Senecas were actors in their own history and demonstrated cultural and political resilience. Both Native belief, in the form of the Good Message of Handsome Lake, and Christianity were major forces in Seneca life; women continued to play important social and economic roles despite the demise of clan matrons’ right to nominate the chiefs; and Senecas became involved in national and international competition in long-distance running and in lacrosse. The Seneca Nation also achieved noteworthy political successes in this period. The Senecas resisted allotment, and thus saved their reservations from breakup and sale. They recruited powerful allies, including attorneys, congressmen, journalists, and religious leaders. They saved their Oil Spring Reservation, winning a U.S. Supreme Court case against New York State on the issue of taxation and won remuneration in their Kansas Claims case. These efforts laid the groundwork for the Senecas’ postwar endeavor to seek compensation before the Indian Claims Commission and pursuit of a series of land claims and tax lawsuits against New York State.