Validity of History

Jane Tompkins, author of "'Indians': Textualism, Morality, and Problem of History," questions the validity of every history book and most facts that have been written. She first writes her perspective as a small child and her own young understanding of American Indians. She imagines herself as an Indian playing in the caves that is the pleasurable perspective of an Indian. When her parents took her to meet real Indians, it "was always a disappointment" ( 718) for her. She would see them for who they were: real Indians in full headdress were not fun. Perhaps this perspective would be different if the Indians were excited to see her, as she was to see them, perhaps not. After Tompkins starts researching the relationship between the Indians and the Europeans she reached an "impasse". …