Dispersed but Not Destroyed

A beautifully written tale of struggle, dispersal, and survival that turns the story of the Wendat conquest on its head.

Sami Lakomäki, University of Oulu:

… the devastating Haudenosaunee attacks in 1649 have long shaped the ways scholars have narrated and understood the past of the Wendat people … So dramatic was this dispersal that many historians and anthropologists have portrayed it as the end of Wendat history and any meaningful Wendat peoplehood. Kathryn Magee Labelle forcefully challenges, and convincingly demolishes, this “discourse of destruction” (p. 196) in her aptly-named Dispersed but Not Destroyed … A topnotch ethnohistory, Labelle’s book … draws a complex yet coherent picture of the vibrant Wendat diaspora. At the same time it prompts broader questions about power, society, and narrative in the study of seventeenth-century North America.

Janith K. English, Principal Chief of the Wyandot Nation of Kansas:
Labelle’s dedication to an understanding of the Wendat/Wyandot people and their history, her meticulous scholarship, and her respectful consultation with the descendants of the diaspora have resulted in a fresh, unique, and holistic perspective on a centuries-old process of forced removal. This book contributes to an understanding of our past and as a result to our present, as we continue to mend these ancient wounds.