AUDIOBOOK
About
The astonishing story of a unique missionary project-and the America it embodied-from award-winning historian John Demos
Near the start of the nineteenth century, as the newly established United States looked outward toward the wider world, a group of eminent Protestant ministers formed a grand scheme for gathering the rest of mankind into the redemptive fold of Christianity and "civilization." Its core element was a special school for "heathen youth" drawn from all parts of the earth, including the Pacific Islands, China, India, and increasingly, the native nations of North America. If all went well, graduates would return to join similar projects in their respective homelands. For some years the school prospered and became quite famous. However, when two Cherokee students courted and married local women, public resolve-and fundamental ideals-were put to a severe test.
The Heathen School follows the progress-and the demise-of this first true melting pot through the lives of individual students: among them, Henry Obookiah, a young Hawaiian who ran away from home and worked as a seaman in the China Trade before ending up in New England; John Ridge, son of a powerful Cherokee chief and subsequently a leader in the process of Indian "removal"; and Elias Boudinot, editor of the first newspaper published by and for Native Americans. From its birth as a beacon of hope for universal "salvation," the heathen school descends into bitter controversy as American racial attitudes harden and intensify. Instead of encouraging reconciliation, the school exposes the limits of tolerance and sets off a chain of events that will culminate tragically in the Trail of Tears.
In The Heathen School, John Demos marshals his deep empathy and feel for the textures of history to tell a moving story of families and communities-and to probe the very roots of American identity. Title Info. Dedication. Prologue
Part One: Beginnings. Chapter 1. American Outreach: The China Trade
Chapter 2. "Providence Unquestionably Cast Them on Our Shores"
Interlude: Hawaii
Part Two: Ascent. Chapter 3. American Mission: The World Savers
Chapter 4. "A Seminary for the Education of Heathen Youth
4. "A Seminary for the Education of Heathen Youth
Part Three: Crisis. Chapter 5. American Paradox: The Indelible Color Line
Chapter 5. American Paradox: The Indelible Color Line
Interlude: The Cherokee Nation
Part Four: Finale. Chapter 7. American Tragedy: Renascence and Removal
Chapter8. "Even the Stoutest Hearts Melt into Tears"
Epilogue
"The masterful account of a utopian nineteenth-century
experiment in education-one that goes painfully awry. A splendidly nuanced,
wholly absorbing tale; patiently, brilliantly, John Demos coaxes unexpected
lessons from a singular collision of enlightenment and assimilation."
"Demos, a
consummate storyteller, has written a parable about the nature of the American
experiment itself: the hills and valleys of our dreams."
"Absorbing…considerable
narrative skills are again on display…The men and women in his stories come alive
across the centuries…The book is peopled with a long cast of interesting
characters-preachers, professors, philanthropists, missionaries, tribal chiefs."
"Strange and
fascinating narrative history…Demos gracefully interweaves the two couples'
stories with the historical and intellectual context in which they took place,
raising key questions (especially, and devastatingly, 'might not the heathen
prefer to remain as they were?')."
"Engrossing…Demos intersperses his historical narrative with
short personal essays of on-the-road reportage…The Heathen School is
a provocative addition to recent narrative histories that explore how racial
categories and attitudes have changed over time in America."
"Cornwall, a small
community in northwestern Connecticut, would seem to have been an unlikely
place to launch a campa
Near the start of the nineteenth century, as the newly established United States looked outward toward the wider world, a group of eminent Protestant ministers formed a grand scheme for gathering the rest of mankind into the redemptive fold of Christianity and "civilization." Its core element was a special school for "heathen youth" drawn from all parts of the earth, including the Pacific Islands, China, India, and increasingly, the native nations of North America. If all went well, graduates would return to join similar projects in their respective homelands. For some years the school prospered and became quite famous. However, when two Cherokee students courted and married local women, public resolve-and fundamental ideals-were put to a severe test.
The Heathen School follows the progress-and the demise-of this first true melting pot through the lives of individual students: among them, Henry Obookiah, a young Hawaiian who ran away from home and worked as a seaman in the China Trade before ending up in New England; John Ridge, son of a powerful Cherokee chief and subsequently a leader in the process of Indian "removal"; and Elias Boudinot, editor of the first newspaper published by and for Native Americans. From its birth as a beacon of hope for universal "salvation," the heathen school descends into bitter controversy as American racial attitudes harden and intensify. Instead of encouraging reconciliation, the school exposes the limits of tolerance and sets off a chain of events that will culminate tragically in the Trail of Tears.
In The Heathen School, John Demos marshals his deep empathy and feel for the textures of history to tell a moving story of families and communities-and to probe the very roots of American identity. Title Info. Dedication. Prologue
Part One: Beginnings. Chapter 1. American Outreach: The China Trade
Chapter 2. "Providence Unquestionably Cast Them on Our Shores"
Interlude: Hawaii
Part Two: Ascent. Chapter 3. American Mission: The World Savers
Chapter 4. "A Seminary for the Education of Heathen Youth
4. "A Seminary for the Education of Heathen Youth
Part Three: Crisis. Chapter 5. American Paradox: The Indelible Color Line
Chapter 5. American Paradox: The Indelible Color Line
Interlude: The Cherokee Nation
Part Four: Finale. Chapter 7. American Tragedy: Renascence and Removal
Chapter8. "Even the Stoutest Hearts Melt into Tears"
Epilogue
"The masterful account of a utopian nineteenth-century
experiment in education-one that goes painfully awry. A splendidly nuanced,
wholly absorbing tale; patiently, brilliantly, John Demos coaxes unexpected
lessons from a singular collision of enlightenment and assimilation."
"Demos, a
consummate storyteller, has written a parable about the nature of the American
experiment itself: the hills and valleys of our dreams."
"Absorbing…considerable
narrative skills are again on display…The men and women in his stories come alive
across the centuries…The book is peopled with a long cast of interesting
characters-preachers, professors, philanthropists, missionaries, tribal chiefs."
"Strange and
fascinating narrative history…Demos gracefully interweaves the two couples'
stories with the historical and intellectual context in which they took place,
raising key questions (especially, and devastatingly, 'might not the heathen
prefer to remain as they were?')."
"Engrossing…Demos intersperses his historical narrative with
short personal essays of on-the-road reportage…The Heathen School is
a provocative addition to recent narrative histories that explore how racial
categories and attitudes have changed over time in America."
"Cornwall, a small
community in northwestern Connecticut, would seem to have been an unlikely
place to launch a campa