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White Savage: William Johnson and the Invention of America
A provocative new biography of the man who forged America's alliance with the Iroquois.
William Johnson was scarcely more than a boy when he left Ireland and his Gaelic, Catholic family to become a Protestant in the service of Britain's North American empire. In New York by 1738, Johnson moved to the frontiers along the Mohawk River, where he established himself as a fur trader and eventually became a landowner with vast estates; served as principal British intermediary with the Iroquois Confederacy; command British, colonial, and Iroquois forces that defeated the French in the battle of Lake George in 1755; and created the first groups of "rangers," who fought like Indians and led the way to the Patriots' victories in the Revolution.
As Fintan O'Toole's superbly researched, colorfully dramatic narrative makes clear, the key to Johnson's signal effectiveness was the style in which he lived as a "white savage." Johnson had two wives, one European, one Mohawk; became fluent in Mohawk; and pioneered the use of Indians as active partners in the making of a new America. O'Toole's masterful use of the extraordinary (often hilariously misspelled) documents written by Irish, Dutch, German, French, and Native American participants in Johnson's drama enlivens the account of this heroic figure's legendary career; it also suggests why Johnson's early multiculturalism unraveled, and why the contradictions of his enterprise created a historical dead end.
William Johnson was scarcely more than a boy when he left Ireland and his Gaelic, Catholic family to become a Protestant in the service of Britain's North American empire. In New York by 1738, Johnson moved to the frontiers along the Mohawk River, where he established himself as a fur trader and eventually became a landowner with vast estates; served as principal British intermediary with the Iroquois Confederacy; command British, colonial, and Iroquois forces that defeated the French in the battle of Lake George in 1755; and created the first groups of "rangers," who fought like Indians and led the way to the Patriots' victories in the Revolution.
As Fintan O'Toole's superbly researched, colorfully dramatic narrative makes clear, the key to Johnson's signal effectiveness was the style in which he lived as a "white savage." Johnson had two wives, one European, one Mohawk; became fluent in Mohawk; and pioneered the use of Indians as active partners in the making of a new America. O'Toole's masterful use of the extraordinary (often hilariously misspelled) documents written by Irish, Dutch, German, French, and Native American participants in Johnson's drama enlivens the account of this heroic figure's legendary career; it also suggests why Johnson's early multiculturalism unraveled, and why the contradictions of his enterprise created a historical dead end.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
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236 people want to read
About the author
Fintan O'Toole
58 books355 followersFintan O'Toole is a columnist, assistant editor and drama critic for The Irish Times. O'Toole was born in Dublin and was partly educated at University College Dublin. He has written for the Irish Times since 1988 and was drama critic for the New York Daily News from 1997 to 2001. He is a literary critic, historical writer and political commentator, with generally left-wing views. He was and continues to be a strong critic of corruption in Irish politics, in both the Haughey era and continuing to the present.
O'Toole has criticised what he sees as negative attitudes towards immigration in Ireland, the state of Ireland's public services, growing inequality during Ireland's economic boom, the Iraq War and the American military's use of Shannon Airport, among many other issues. In 2006, he spent six months in China reporting for The Irish Times. In his weekly columns in The Irish Times, O'Toole opposed the IRA's campaign during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fintan_O...
O'Toole has criticised what he sees as negative attitudes towards immigration in Ireland, the state of Ireland's public services, growing inequality during Ireland's economic boom, the Iraq War and the American military's use of Shannon Airport, among many other issues. In 2006, he spent six months in China reporting for The Irish Times. In his weekly columns in The Irish Times, O'Toole opposed the IRA's campaign during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fintan_O...
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 1, 2025
Irish columnist and author Fintan O’Toole chronicles the life of one of his own countrymen’s experiences and triumphs in the tumultuous times of eighteenth century Colonial America, separating fact from myth in the monumental life of William Johnson. In a stirring introduction, O’Toole provides a unique glance at Johnson’s induction ceremony into the Mohican tribe, followed by subtle historical insight on the English people’s bigotry and fear of their Irish—in truth Catholic—neighbors. From there, O’Toole sets off the opening chapter with the visit of several Mohawk leaders to the Old World in the early-eighteenth century, aptly describing the two cultures which were—quite literally—world’s apart.
Upon delving into a highly informative account of Johnson’s birth, there’s almost a bit too much attention paid to his family genealogy and religious ties. O’Toole provides interesting insight into the circumstances of Johnson’s conversion from Catholicism to becoming a Protestant, in which his Uncle Peter Warren—a mentor and benefactor to the teen—convinces him to emigrate to the American colonies where a vast new territory and domain awaited him in his good fortune. After battling a few rough New York winters, Johnson sets up shop and estate in the Mohawk Valley, where he seduces a German servant girl to live with him for both her romantic and employment qualifications. Catharine, O’Toole asserts, would be listed in his will as his wife some 35 years later.
O’Toole notes Johnson’s growing stature in both his trading and multilingual capabilities among the various tribes—such as the Oneidas—and highlights his altogether unique induction into the Mohawk tribe as a sachem to behold. This would lead to his subsequent confirmation as Colonel of the Six Nations, in which O’Toole retraces the beginnings of the French and Indian War and—more importantly—the British necessity for allies familiar with North American terrain and its Native inhabitants. As the newly appointed Indian Commissioner for His Majesty’s Thirteen Colonies, Johnson quickly becomes subject to an awkward and unstable triangle between his uncle Peter Warren and his ties to James De Lancey. De Lancey was then in absolute disagreement and competition with his superior in New York, Governor Clinton—who for his part held Colonel Johnson in high regard and esteem:
In some respects Johnson was a logical choice. A month before, he had himself urged the most influential colonial governor, William Shirley of Massachusetts, to plan an attack on Crown Point as the best way of bringing the Iroquois into the conflict on the British side. Shirley had forwarded these recommendations to London with his own strong support, adding that Johnson was ‘the best judge in America’ of the disposition of the Iroquois. The Lords of Trade had been hearing Johnson’s praises sung by Clinton for the past eight years.
O’Toole provides an intimate view of Johnson’s relationship with Joseph Brant’s sister, Molly, with whom he most assuredly met and had relations with months before the death of his “wife” Catherine—indeed, he would father a number of children with Brant thereafter. While the exploits of Johnson’s command and engagements are related in a military outlook that’s both comprehensible and scholarly, the book also contains its fair share of rather unmemorable and altogether dull facts and descriptions, where it’s easy for the reader to get lost and lose focus in certain points of his life. Nonetheless, every aspect of his life during the French and Indian War is unravelled, from his triumphs at Lake George, Crown Point, and Fort Niagara, to his brilliance in gathering a formidable alliance of tribes outside of the Six Nations—leading to the fall and bloodless surrender of Montreal.
O’Toole brings a fresh view on the politics of Pontiac’s War, as well as Johnson’s feud with Jeffrey Amherst—where the commander-in-chief’s disreputable policy of disturbing the Crown’s relations with Native tribes leads to his recall, and Johnson’s praise. In light of the approaching storm of the American Revolution, Johnson’s death in 1774 seemed all the more tragic and premature—as O’Toole recounts the devastating aftershocks that hit the Six Nations and other Native communities during and after the war, as well as his family and acquaintances who were labeled Loyalists. Slow at certain points, O’Toole has nonetheless provided a well-researched account of an iconic leader who lived his life to its utmost capacity.
Upon delving into a highly informative account of Johnson’s birth, there’s almost a bit too much attention paid to his family genealogy and religious ties. O’Toole provides interesting insight into the circumstances of Johnson’s conversion from Catholicism to becoming a Protestant, in which his Uncle Peter Warren—a mentor and benefactor to the teen—convinces him to emigrate to the American colonies where a vast new territory and domain awaited him in his good fortune. After battling a few rough New York winters, Johnson sets up shop and estate in the Mohawk Valley, where he seduces a German servant girl to live with him for both her romantic and employment qualifications. Catharine, O’Toole asserts, would be listed in his will as his wife some 35 years later.
O’Toole notes Johnson’s growing stature in both his trading and multilingual capabilities among the various tribes—such as the Oneidas—and highlights his altogether unique induction into the Mohawk tribe as a sachem to behold. This would lead to his subsequent confirmation as Colonel of the Six Nations, in which O’Toole retraces the beginnings of the French and Indian War and—more importantly—the British necessity for allies familiar with North American terrain and its Native inhabitants. As the newly appointed Indian Commissioner for His Majesty’s Thirteen Colonies, Johnson quickly becomes subject to an awkward and unstable triangle between his uncle Peter Warren and his ties to James De Lancey. De Lancey was then in absolute disagreement and competition with his superior in New York, Governor Clinton—who for his part held Colonel Johnson in high regard and esteem:
In some respects Johnson was a logical choice. A month before, he had himself urged the most influential colonial governor, William Shirley of Massachusetts, to plan an attack on Crown Point as the best way of bringing the Iroquois into the conflict on the British side. Shirley had forwarded these recommendations to London with his own strong support, adding that Johnson was ‘the best judge in America’ of the disposition of the Iroquois. The Lords of Trade had been hearing Johnson’s praises sung by Clinton for the past eight years.
O’Toole provides an intimate view of Johnson’s relationship with Joseph Brant’s sister, Molly, with whom he most assuredly met and had relations with months before the death of his “wife” Catherine—indeed, he would father a number of children with Brant thereafter. While the exploits of Johnson’s command and engagements are related in a military outlook that’s both comprehensible and scholarly, the book also contains its fair share of rather unmemorable and altogether dull facts and descriptions, where it’s easy for the reader to get lost and lose focus in certain points of his life. Nonetheless, every aspect of his life during the French and Indian War is unravelled, from his triumphs at Lake George, Crown Point, and Fort Niagara, to his brilliance in gathering a formidable alliance of tribes outside of the Six Nations—leading to the fall and bloodless surrender of Montreal.
O’Toole brings a fresh view on the politics of Pontiac’s War, as well as Johnson’s feud with Jeffrey Amherst—where the commander-in-chief’s disreputable policy of disturbing the Crown’s relations with Native tribes leads to his recall, and Johnson’s praise. In light of the approaching storm of the American Revolution, Johnson’s death in 1774 seemed all the more tragic and premature—as O’Toole recounts the devastating aftershocks that hit the Six Nations and other Native communities during and after the war, as well as his family and acquaintances who were labeled Loyalists. Slow at certain points, O’Toole has nonetheless provided a well-researched account of an iconic leader who lived his life to its utmost capacity.
June 10, 2022
Sir William Johnson was a giant of colonial America. He’s a fascinating figure, both crucially important in American history and neglected in the popular American imagination. Fintan O'Toole's book isn’t a definitive biography of Johnson, as say Thomas Flexner’s much earlier Mohawk Baronet is. Instead, it concentrates on specific aspects of his story not previously explored. O'Toole’s focuses is on Johnson's ability to be a man of two worlds - fully integrated into the British imperial world while simultaneously comprehending and moving effortlessly within the world and mindset of Native Americans. He credits this to Johnson's heritage and upbringing as the son of Irish Catholic Jacobites, a family that had to learn to survive under the hostile control of the Protestant British power.
O'Toole's book is really much more than a biography. It even goes beyond the scope of its subtitle, which mentions Johnson's role in the invention of America. O'Toole spends so much time on examining the world of Catholic Jacobites in Ireland and Scotland, and explaining how they came to cope with their position of defeat and banishment, that this book is almost as much a study on that lost world as it is of Johnson's life. It makes a strong case for the impact these defeated Jacobites had on the formation of America.
Sir William Johnson is arguably second only to George Washington in his significance to the early history and formation of the United States of America, and he is second to none in his colorful personal story. This book adds to the literature already available by fleshing out what it was that made this extraordinary man tick. If you have already read Flexner's definitive biography of Johnson, you will still gain much from reading this one.
This book should appeal to anyone with an interest in colonial American history, the Iroquois Confederation, and the French and Indian War. It should likewise appeal to anyone interested in Irish history, particularly as it applies to the last days of Jacobite culture and diaspora - highly recommended.
O'Toole's book is really much more than a biography. It even goes beyond the scope of its subtitle, which mentions Johnson's role in the invention of America. O'Toole spends so much time on examining the world of Catholic Jacobites in Ireland and Scotland, and explaining how they came to cope with their position of defeat and banishment, that this book is almost as much a study on that lost world as it is of Johnson's life. It makes a strong case for the impact these defeated Jacobites had on the formation of America.
Sir William Johnson is arguably second only to George Washington in his significance to the early history and formation of the United States of America, and he is second to none in his colorful personal story. This book adds to the literature already available by fleshing out what it was that made this extraordinary man tick. If you have already read Flexner's definitive biography of Johnson, you will still gain much from reading this one.
This book should appeal to anyone with an interest in colonial American history, the Iroquois Confederation, and the French and Indian War. It should likewise appeal to anyone interested in Irish history, particularly as it applies to the last days of Jacobite culture and diaspora - highly recommended.
August 29, 2019
This biography of Indian Affairs Superintendent William Johnson and history of his shaping of colonial relations with the Iroquois federation of six tribes in upstate New York in the mid-18th century turned out to be quite revelatory to me. His decades of persistent efforts to assure peaceful relations between European colonists, their British governing forces, and this dominant group of tribes is exemplary in many ways and based on his proclivity to understand and respect their culture, to learn their language, and even to take an Indian “wife” (albeit a supplement to his white wife).
Often he stood up to restrain military responses by the governor or militia commanders after violent collisions between settlers and Indians. Ultimately, he failed to keep the peace in the face of the greed for land and racist attitudes among the settler communities and British ruling factions across the pond. The role Johnson played in harnessing his Indian forces to defeat the French at the Battle of Lake George in 1755 and at Fort Niagara in 1759 was critical to the collapse of French ambitions for a colonial empire in North America. However, others in the British military took the credit and Johnson’s efforts have largely been forgotten. Another accomplishment I was not aware of was his innovation of training militia cadres of “rangers” in Indian-style guerilla warfare, which contributed to the success of the colonial forces against the British army in the American Revolutionary War.
The Irish author O’Toole digs deep to try to account for the relative anomaly of Johnson’s leadership and Native advocacy and finds roots in his cultural oppression by the British growing up in Ireland. His ambitions toward diplomacy and compromise appear to the author to we much to Johnson and relatives among the Warrens experience of an internal split and slide from aristocracy by the long and uncompromising clashes between Catholic and Protestant forces in Ireland. His account of this man reinforces my recent gleanings of the special impetus of Irish immigrants to reinvent themselves in America from reading Bailey’s Nine Irish Lives: The Thinkers, Fighters, and Artists Who Helped Build America and Egan’s The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero. Some quotes relevant to this thread:
One of the reasons William Johnson took so well to the borderlands between the French and British Empires in North America was that he had grown up along such a border. Spiritually and culturally, though not literally, the milieu of Johnson’s youth was a Franco-British frontier.
…
Though reduced circumstances of his family as son of head tenant and middleman, immersed in playboy style, social, sporting, riding, music. …Johnson learned to be a pre-eminent exponent of this style, an acceptable social creature who could mix familiarly with all sorts of people, drink with a peasant or amuse a lord, knock out a fiddle tune or play a game of football, and yet retain a commanding air of reserve. What was unusual about him was that instead of drifting away into a dreamy dilettantism or hardening into a doomed defiance, these qualities in him became, by an accident of circumstance, internationally significant.
O’Toole weighs available and often sketchy historical evidence to reveal that Johnson’s motives were not pure and his actions often paradoxical. He used his position to gain large tracts of land in the Mohawk Valley and reap large profits from trade between the whites and the Indians. Also, he could be accused of sexual exploitation of Indian women, of suborning atrocities by his partner tribes by permitting their taking of scalps and/or hostages from their Native enemies, and of ruthlessness in how he persuaded warriors from his favored tribes to participate in the British war with the French and their Indian partners (including western members of the Iroquois Confederacy). Johnson’s advocacy of drawing some lines for Indian sovereignty in lands to the west of colonial settlements (i.e. in future Ohio) was fruitless, an historical dead end given the rapidity of settlement advance.
In my past diverse readings of fiction and non-fiction about Indians, I learned from Philbrick’s book Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War that there was an early 55-year period of relative peace between the Plymouth Bay colonists and Native tribes. Unfortunately, the colonists' practice of defrauding Indians of their land through treaties with Indian leaders not representing their whole tribe ended with King Philip’s War in the 1670’s. I figured it was all downhill from there. Thus, this interlude in New York raised the possibility of an alternative history, given enough leaders like Johnson, not doomed to become marked by imperialist genocide and oppression. At the beginning of the 19th century the U.S. the new nation more than doubled in size with the Louisiana Purchase. Though its peaceful exploration and first contacts with the Native residents by the Lewis and Clarke expedition was uplifting to read about in Ambrose’s Undaunted Courage
Unfortunately, it took only three decades to arrive at President Jackson’s cruel implementation of a wholesale Indian removal policy for tribes east of the Mississippi to reserves in the west (Indian Territory and future state of Oklahoma). By mid-century the U.S. land claims achieved a continental scale with the gains of the Southwest and California from the Mexican War, which was followed by several decades of militarily subjugating all the Western tribes and forcing them onto reservations.
Reading this for me was good medicine for dealing with the collective guilt of humanity in general and my nation in particular over the sad fate of Native Americans. It’s important to experience the details of this history over the centuries and to learn of such cases of leaders trying to swim against the tide of their oppression. For a current perspective on digesting history and chances for fruitful relations between U.S. and Canadian people with their Indian residents going forward I recommend King's The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America.
Often he stood up to restrain military responses by the governor or militia commanders after violent collisions between settlers and Indians. Ultimately, he failed to keep the peace in the face of the greed for land and racist attitudes among the settler communities and British ruling factions across the pond. The role Johnson played in harnessing his Indian forces to defeat the French at the Battle of Lake George in 1755 and at Fort Niagara in 1759 was critical to the collapse of French ambitions for a colonial empire in North America. However, others in the British military took the credit and Johnson’s efforts have largely been forgotten. Another accomplishment I was not aware of was his innovation of training militia cadres of “rangers” in Indian-style guerilla warfare, which contributed to the success of the colonial forces against the British army in the American Revolutionary War.
The Irish author O’Toole digs deep to try to account for the relative anomaly of Johnson’s leadership and Native advocacy and finds roots in his cultural oppression by the British growing up in Ireland. His ambitions toward diplomacy and compromise appear to the author to we much to Johnson and relatives among the Warrens experience of an internal split and slide from aristocracy by the long and uncompromising clashes between Catholic and Protestant forces in Ireland. His account of this man reinforces my recent gleanings of the special impetus of Irish immigrants to reinvent themselves in America from reading Bailey’s Nine Irish Lives: The Thinkers, Fighters, and Artists Who Helped Build America and Egan’s The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero. Some quotes relevant to this thread:
One of the reasons William Johnson took so well to the borderlands between the French and British Empires in North America was that he had grown up along such a border. Spiritually and culturally, though not literally, the milieu of Johnson’s youth was a Franco-British frontier.
…
Though reduced circumstances of his family as son of head tenant and middleman, immersed in playboy style, social, sporting, riding, music. …Johnson learned to be a pre-eminent exponent of this style, an acceptable social creature who could mix familiarly with all sorts of people, drink with a peasant or amuse a lord, knock out a fiddle tune or play a game of football, and yet retain a commanding air of reserve. What was unusual about him was that instead of drifting away into a dreamy dilettantism or hardening into a doomed defiance, these qualities in him became, by an accident of circumstance, internationally significant.
O’Toole weighs available and often sketchy historical evidence to reveal that Johnson’s motives were not pure and his actions often paradoxical. He used his position to gain large tracts of land in the Mohawk Valley and reap large profits from trade between the whites and the Indians. Also, he could be accused of sexual exploitation of Indian women, of suborning atrocities by his partner tribes by permitting their taking of scalps and/or hostages from their Native enemies, and of ruthlessness in how he persuaded warriors from his favored tribes to participate in the British war with the French and their Indian partners (including western members of the Iroquois Confederacy). Johnson’s advocacy of drawing some lines for Indian sovereignty in lands to the west of colonial settlements (i.e. in future Ohio) was fruitless, an historical dead end given the rapidity of settlement advance.
In my past diverse readings of fiction and non-fiction about Indians, I learned from Philbrick’s book Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War that there was an early 55-year period of relative peace between the Plymouth Bay colonists and Native tribes. Unfortunately, the colonists' practice of defrauding Indians of their land through treaties with Indian leaders not representing their whole tribe ended with King Philip’s War in the 1670’s. I figured it was all downhill from there. Thus, this interlude in New York raised the possibility of an alternative history, given enough leaders like Johnson, not doomed to become marked by imperialist genocide and oppression. At the beginning of the 19th century the U.S. the new nation more than doubled in size with the Louisiana Purchase. Though its peaceful exploration and first contacts with the Native residents by the Lewis and Clarke expedition was uplifting to read about in Ambrose’s Undaunted Courage
Unfortunately, it took only three decades to arrive at President Jackson’s cruel implementation of a wholesale Indian removal policy for tribes east of the Mississippi to reserves in the west (Indian Territory and future state of Oklahoma). By mid-century the U.S. land claims achieved a continental scale with the gains of the Southwest and California from the Mexican War, which was followed by several decades of militarily subjugating all the Western tribes and forcing them onto reservations.
Reading this for me was good medicine for dealing with the collective guilt of humanity in general and my nation in particular over the sad fate of Native Americans. It’s important to experience the details of this history over the centuries and to learn of such cases of leaders trying to swim against the tide of their oppression. For a current perspective on digesting history and chances for fruitful relations between U.S. and Canadian people with their Indian residents going forward I recommend King's The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America.
May 23, 2012
This is a biography written by an Irishman (Fintan O'Toole) about an Irishman (William Johnson) who has a tremendous impact on American history by forging enduring peace alliances between the British and Native American tribes in upstate New York during and around the time of the French and Indian War. Johnson develops a massive estate, international influence, and epic military campaigns that dismantle the French presence in America. He breaks racial barriers and fathers at least 12 children. He is featured in the Leatherstocking Tales, Rogers Rangers, and novels expressly about him. Then, Johnson dies shortly before the Revolutionary War, only to have his estate and legend wiped out because his children take the side of the British Crown.
The principal thesis of the book is that Johnson's Irishness was the very thing that helped him forge unique and sweeping relationships with Native American tribes across the region. The syncronicity between the Irish and the Native American life is impressive. My favorite example is when O'Toole describes the "shifting strata" of their spiritual life, that neither people saw any problem with believing in holy wells and spirits, the Catholic faith, and the Protestant way of life all at the same time.
I also enjoyed a secondary thesis, that history belongs to the victors. O'Toole quotes John Adams with venom against William Johnson. American children today do not learn about Americans who remained loyal to the British during the Revolution, as Johnson's family chose to do, no matter how crucial Johnson was to early American frontier stability. In points in the book, Johnson is critical of the American pioneersmen and their unmanageable behavior toward the tribes. O'Toole provides a fresh perspective on our American patriot through William Johnson's eyes.
Fascinating, and excellent writing. Only - I admit, I skimmed the military history.
The principal thesis of the book is that Johnson's Irishness was the very thing that helped him forge unique and sweeping relationships with Native American tribes across the region. The syncronicity between the Irish and the Native American life is impressive. My favorite example is when O'Toole describes the "shifting strata" of their spiritual life, that neither people saw any problem with believing in holy wells and spirits, the Catholic faith, and the Protestant way of life all at the same time.
I also enjoyed a secondary thesis, that history belongs to the victors. O'Toole quotes John Adams with venom against William Johnson. American children today do not learn about Americans who remained loyal to the British during the Revolution, as Johnson's family chose to do, no matter how crucial Johnson was to early American frontier stability. In points in the book, Johnson is critical of the American pioneersmen and their unmanageable behavior toward the tribes. O'Toole provides a fresh perspective on our American patriot through William Johnson's eyes.
Fascinating, and excellent writing. Only - I admit, I skimmed the military history.
February 7, 2017
A well-paced well-written history of William Johnson’s life and times. O’Toole does a great job demonstrating Johnson’s fond relations with the Mohawk, with whom he did business, conducted politics, and waged war (he would also father numerous children with various Mohawk women)
O’Toole does a great job showing how smoothly Johnson was able to mold himself into Iroquois culture and how instinctive is skill in negotiation was. He elegantly highlights the era’s military developments and putting them into the context of the relations between the British, the French and the Indians. Johnson’s personal feelings about the Iroquois are unclear, and O’Toole does not attempt to speculate here.
Interesting, well-researched and enjoyable. The early chapters, however, jump back and forth a bit chronologically.
O’Toole does a great job showing how smoothly Johnson was able to mold himself into Iroquois culture and how instinctive is skill in negotiation was. He elegantly highlights the era’s military developments and putting them into the context of the relations between the British, the French and the Indians. Johnson’s personal feelings about the Iroquois are unclear, and O’Toole does not attempt to speculate here.
Interesting, well-researched and enjoyable. The early chapters, however, jump back and forth a bit chronologically.
November 2, 2022
I bought this book last month at Johnson Hall in Johnstown, NY, when my brother and I were exploring the Mohawk Valley where our (Loyalist) 8th great grandparents lived up until they lost the Revolutionary War and fled to Canada. My ancestral family was closely allied with William Johnson, his descendants, and the Mohawk people, so I read O'Toole's book both as a family historian and a lover of American history. O'Toole's well-written and well-researched biography of this key British "Indian Agent" does not disappoint on either score. It is an accessible entry point into the period just prior to the American Revolution (Johnson died in 1774)--a period most Americans know little of--and even less of the man whose deep knowledge of the Mohawk people and their Iroquois allies helped shape the future boundaries of the United States and Canada. Regrettably, Johnson's vision for British Indian policy was thwarted by the victors of the American Revolution. One minor quibble is that the book was written when an important player in the story (the Mohawk "Hendrick" Theyanoguin [c. 1691 – September 8, 1755]) was still being conflated with an older Mohawk leader given the same first name in baptism (Hendrick Tejonihokarawa[(c. 1660 – c. 1735]). The error makes for some confusion.
October 22, 2025
Man on the Borders
William Johnson was a man who lived and thrived at the boarders between Protestant and Catholic, Irish and English, White and Native American. From a modest Irish Catholic family he became a Protestant English noble and Iroquois leader. Navigating these diverse worlds in surprising ways, Johnson, while not perfect, often defended the weak. White Savage is an excellent biography and a fine appraisal of Johnson’s influence on America.
William Johnson was a man who lived and thrived at the boarders between Protestant and Catholic, Irish and English, White and Native American. From a modest Irish Catholic family he became a Protestant English noble and Iroquois leader. Navigating these diverse worlds in surprising ways, Johnson, while not perfect, often defended the weak. White Savage is an excellent biography and a fine appraisal of Johnson’s influence on America.
August 10, 2018
'Tis a very cluttered history about William Johnson of our pre-Revolutionary era. I suppose he acted as a liaison between European and Indian cultures, but I may never know for sure because O'Toole's exhaustive work lost me fast.
November 17, 2017
A unique insight into the success of Sir William. A lively account of a true American Hero.
July 21, 2021
Interesting story, but I found O'Tooles writing very boring.
April 29, 2022
"Forest superman"
January 30, 2015
I must declare a previous, keen interest in William Johnson from many years ago, when studying (some of the time!) for my honours degree in Modern History at London University in the mid to late 70s, graduating in 1977. A major part of my course of study was American History (nearly 50%), including the causes of the Seven Years' War (the French & Indian Wars to the colonists!) & the ill-defined figure of William Johnson loomed large in that bloody & bitter conflict, perhaps best popularised by such films as 'North-West Passage' with Spencer Tracy as ranger Robert Rogers (from the novel by Kenneth Roberts) & the several exciting versions of 'The Last of the Mohicans'(the Michael Mann epic of 1992...one of my all-time favourite historical films!...who can possibly forget Anglo-Irish-Jewish Daniel Day-Lewis's peerless performance as Hawkeye alias Natty Bumpo?!)).
Fintan O'Toole's majestic & engrossing biography of a forgotten giant fills-in much of the missing detail & a whole new perspective on this extraordinary & larger-than-life figure! I cannot speak too highly of both O'Toole's scholarship & his stimulating style...with so many fascinating conjectures on the rainbow-psyche of Johnson, & on his peculiarly intense long-lasting respect for 'native Americans'(as modern taste in nomenclature has it!- that William Johnson was really a MacShane (anglicised to Johnson! only adds poignancy to a vortex of tangled forces that seemed to have created this unique individual.) There is so much more...here in this exemplary historical biography that I could wax lyrical about its scope & its achievement for another few hundred words. I won't...but read this book...if you have any interest in the founding myths of modern American history!
Quite exceptional, Fintan...me boyo!!
Fintan O'Toole's majestic & engrossing biography of a forgotten giant fills-in much of the missing detail & a whole new perspective on this extraordinary & larger-than-life figure! I cannot speak too highly of both O'Toole's scholarship & his stimulating style...with so many fascinating conjectures on the rainbow-psyche of Johnson, & on his peculiarly intense long-lasting respect for 'native Americans'(as modern taste in nomenclature has it!- that William Johnson was really a MacShane (anglicised to Johnson! only adds poignancy to a vortex of tangled forces that seemed to have created this unique individual.) There is so much more...here in this exemplary historical biography that I could wax lyrical about its scope & its achievement for another few hundred words. I won't...but read this book...if you have any interest in the founding myths of modern American history!
Quite exceptional, Fintan...me boyo!!
July 14, 2012
I have always been interested in William Johnson and his relationship with the 6 nations confederacy so I jumped at this book. After reading it, I wish that Johnson's approach had been able to succeed. He successfully bridged the gap between Europeans and natives for several decades by understanding, respecting, and moderating both cultures. Unfortunately, he was so unique in his abilities, that no one was able to carry on his work and cultural conflict, resulting in the near destruction and virtual eviction of the Iroquois in the US was the result. We would have a very different country, one that was more diverse with more wild places, if Johnson's approach had won out. Although O'Toole digresses throughout the book and is a bit overwrought in his writing at times, everyone should read this book to catch a glimpse of what could have been.
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