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No Useless Mouth: Waging War and Fighting Hunger in the American Revolution
"Rachel B. Herrmann's No Useless Mouth is truly a breath of fresh air in the way it aligns food and hunger as the focal point of a new lens to reexamine the American Revolution. Her careful scrutiny, inclusive approach, and broad synthesis―all based on extensive archival research―produced a monograph simultaneously rich, audacious, insightful, lively, and provocative."―The Journal of American History
In the era of the American Revolution, the rituals of diplomacy between the British, Patriots, and Native Americans featured gifts of food, ceremonial feasts, and a shared experience of hunger. When diplomacy failed, Native Americans could destroy food stores and cut off supply chains in order to assert authority. Black colonists also stole and destroyed food to ward off hunger and carve out tenuous spaces of freedom. Hunger was a means of power and a weapon of war.
In No Useless Mouth, Rachel B. Herrmann argues that Native Americans and formerly enslaved black colonists ultimately lost the battle against hunger and the larger struggle for power because white British and United States officials curtailed the abilities of men and women to fight hunger on their own terms. By describing three interrelated behaviors—food diplomacy, victual imperialism, and victual warfare—the book shows that, during this tumultuous period, hunger prevention efforts offered strategies to claim power, maintain communities, and keep rival societies at bay.
Herrmann shows how Native Americans, free blacks, and enslaved peoples were "useful mouths"—not mere supplicants for food, without rights or power—who used hunger for cooperation and violence, and took steps to circumvent starvation. Her wide-ranging research on black Loyalists, Iroquois, Cherokee, Creek, and Western Confederacy Indians demonstrates that hunger creation and prevention were tools of diplomacy and warfare available to all people involved in the American Revolution. Placing hunger at the center of these struggles foregrounds the contingency and plurality of power in the British Atlantic during the Revolutionary Era.
Thanks to generous funding from Cardiff University, the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornell-open) and other repositories.
In the era of the American Revolution, the rituals of diplomacy between the British, Patriots, and Native Americans featured gifts of food, ceremonial feasts, and a shared experience of hunger. When diplomacy failed, Native Americans could destroy food stores and cut off supply chains in order to assert authority. Black colonists also stole and destroyed food to ward off hunger and carve out tenuous spaces of freedom. Hunger was a means of power and a weapon of war.
In No Useless Mouth, Rachel B. Herrmann argues that Native Americans and formerly enslaved black colonists ultimately lost the battle against hunger and the larger struggle for power because white British and United States officials curtailed the abilities of men and women to fight hunger on their own terms. By describing three interrelated behaviors—food diplomacy, victual imperialism, and victual warfare—the book shows that, during this tumultuous period, hunger prevention efforts offered strategies to claim power, maintain communities, and keep rival societies at bay.
Herrmann shows how Native Americans, free blacks, and enslaved peoples were "useful mouths"—not mere supplicants for food, without rights or power—who used hunger for cooperation and violence, and took steps to circumvent starvation. Her wide-ranging research on black Loyalists, Iroquois, Cherokee, Creek, and Western Confederacy Indians demonstrates that hunger creation and prevention were tools of diplomacy and warfare available to all people involved in the American Revolution. Placing hunger at the center of these struggles foregrounds the contingency and plurality of power in the British Atlantic during the Revolutionary Era.
Thanks to generous funding from Cardiff University, the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornell-open) and other repositories.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
296 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 15, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 12, 2021
This was a difficult book for me. In general, an examination of food sources and consumption in the Revolutionary War era is a good topic. Personally, I found the treatment here not so good.
One problem, of course, is I want far more solid facts to go off of that could ever be available in that era. Another is consistent use of the word "hunger" (n. an uneasy sensation occasioned by the lack of food), used in ways which make me uneasy. Apparently the term has been redefined for the social sciences ("a condition in which a person cannot eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period"), so I'm being something of a fuddy-duddy but that definition is never given in the book, either.
Herrman does define three other useful terms in her introduction however. Food diplomacy is the sharing of food, or lack thereof, in order cement alliances (or at least peace). Victual warfare is the usual scorched earth tactics (by either side), as well as hording or stealing food. And victual imperialism is using laws and institutions (price fixing, land use, food aid...) to transform power relationships (...she doesn't put it that way, but the book would be better if she did).
I also sometimes wonder about Herrman's knowledge of some of the era she's writing about. The biggest trouble was where she points up changing attitudes towards Indian Affairs by the British by comparing two letters, one from Howe, and the other from Germain. From my knowledge of them, I'd say the letters are quite emblematic of the differences in how those two approached everything, not just Indian Affairs, and therefore is more administration change than policy change.
The better part of the book is where she tackles the idea of a 'long American Revolution', that is to say, a period centered on it, but in no way confined to it. She starts with the years leading up to the war (common enough in any subject in history), but as Herrman's looking at how all this affected Native American and Black peoples, not only looks at what happened in the direct aftermath of the Revolution, but also at the Loyalist colony founded in Nova Scotia, and then in Sierra Leone, where a lot of the Black ex-slaves ended up after their power-base collapsed in Nova Scotia.
There's some important things to look at there, but I think she misses the implications again. There is a nice discussion about whether the violence in 1800 Sierra Leone is better termed a "rebellion" or a "riot" (with some on-the-point mention of riot having more negative connotations today than then). Herrman also mention's King Tom's (Pa Kokelly) apparent overtures to both sides, and never seems to realize he was quite likely just waiting to see who came out on top before committing himself to anything.
I just can't recommend this, despite some good pieces, as there's just too many missed opportunities here.
One problem, of course, is I want far more solid facts to go off of that could ever be available in that era. Another is consistent use of the word "hunger" (n. an uneasy sensation occasioned by the lack of food), used in ways which make me uneasy. Apparently the term has been redefined for the social sciences ("a condition in which a person cannot eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period"), so I'm being something of a fuddy-duddy but that definition is never given in the book, either.
Herrman does define three other useful terms in her introduction however. Food diplomacy is the sharing of food, or lack thereof, in order cement alliances (or at least peace). Victual warfare is the usual scorched earth tactics (by either side), as well as hording or stealing food. And victual imperialism is using laws and institutions (price fixing, land use, food aid...) to transform power relationships (...she doesn't put it that way, but the book would be better if she did).
I also sometimes wonder about Herrman's knowledge of some of the era she's writing about. The biggest trouble was where she points up changing attitudes towards Indian Affairs by the British by comparing two letters, one from Howe, and the other from Germain. From my knowledge of them, I'd say the letters are quite emblematic of the differences in how those two approached everything, not just Indian Affairs, and therefore is more administration change than policy change.
The better part of the book is where she tackles the idea of a 'long American Revolution', that is to say, a period centered on it, but in no way confined to it. She starts with the years leading up to the war (common enough in any subject in history), but as Herrman's looking at how all this affected Native American and Black peoples, not only looks at what happened in the direct aftermath of the Revolution, but also at the Loyalist colony founded in Nova Scotia, and then in Sierra Leone, where a lot of the Black ex-slaves ended up after their power-base collapsed in Nova Scotia.
There's some important things to look at there, but I think she misses the implications again. There is a nice discussion about whether the violence in 1800 Sierra Leone is better termed a "rebellion" or a "riot" (with some on-the-point mention of riot having more negative connotations today than then). Herrman also mention's King Tom's (Pa Kokelly) apparent overtures to both sides, and never seems to realize he was quite likely just waiting to see who came out on top before committing himself to anything.
I just can't recommend this, despite some good pieces, as there's just too many missed opportunities here.
July 31, 2023
Halo, Kerabat !
Beberapa pelajaran dari buku ini yang membahas tentang kelaparan dan perang pada peristiwa revolusi Amerika adalah sebagai berikut :
1. "No Useless Mouth" menggambarkan kelaparan pada Era Revolusi Amerika (Perang kemerdekaan AS melawan Inggris, menghasilkan kemerdekaan Amerika Serikat) dan perjuangan orang Amerika Asli dan kulit hitam dalam menciptakan kebijakan pangan dan tentang kehilangan kekuatan keadilan.
2. Penyelidikan upaya historis dalam mengatasi kelaparan dan mengungkap peran orang Amerika Asli dan mantan budak dalam membentuk kebijakan pangan dalam pencegahan dan penciptaan kelaparan.
Eksplorasi konteks kelaparan pada era Revolusi Amerika menyoroti kekuatan dan kerugian mereka.
3. Pada era Revolusi Amerika, ritual diplomasi melibatkan pemberian makanan, perjamuan, dan pengalaman kelaparan.
Kelaparan digunakan sebagai alat kekuasaan dan senjata perang oleh orang Amerika Asli dan kolonis kulit hitam.
4. Orang Amerika Asli dan kulit hitam kehilangan/kalah dalam pertempuran melawan kelaparan karena pembatasan oleh pejabat Inggris dan Amerika Serikat.
5. Bagaimana kolonis kulit hitam mencari kebebasan dengan mencuri dan menghancurkan makanan, sementara kelaparan menjadi alat kekuasaan dan senjata perang dan bagaimana orang Amerika Asli dan kulit hitam kehilangan perjuangan melawan kelaparan karena batasan yang diterapkan oleh pihak Inggris dan Amerika Serikat.
6. Analisis diplomasi makanan, imperialisme pangan, dan perang pangan - yang mengungkap strategi pencegahan kelaparan dalam klaim kekuasaan, menjaga komunitas, dan menjauhkan pesaing.
7. Penelitian luas tentang berbagai kelompok menunjukkan kelaparan sebagai alat diplomasi dan perang dalam Revolusi Amerika, menggarisbawahi keberagaman kekuasaan di Atlantik Inggris pada era itu.
Hatur nuhun.
Beberapa pelajaran dari buku ini yang membahas tentang kelaparan dan perang pada peristiwa revolusi Amerika adalah sebagai berikut :
1. "No Useless Mouth" menggambarkan kelaparan pada Era Revolusi Amerika (Perang kemerdekaan AS melawan Inggris, menghasilkan kemerdekaan Amerika Serikat) dan perjuangan orang Amerika Asli dan kulit hitam dalam menciptakan kebijakan pangan dan tentang kehilangan kekuatan keadilan.
2. Penyelidikan upaya historis dalam mengatasi kelaparan dan mengungkap peran orang Amerika Asli dan mantan budak dalam membentuk kebijakan pangan dalam pencegahan dan penciptaan kelaparan.
Eksplorasi konteks kelaparan pada era Revolusi Amerika menyoroti kekuatan dan kerugian mereka.
3. Pada era Revolusi Amerika, ritual diplomasi melibatkan pemberian makanan, perjamuan, dan pengalaman kelaparan.
Kelaparan digunakan sebagai alat kekuasaan dan senjata perang oleh orang Amerika Asli dan kolonis kulit hitam.
4. Orang Amerika Asli dan kulit hitam kehilangan/kalah dalam pertempuran melawan kelaparan karena pembatasan oleh pejabat Inggris dan Amerika Serikat.
5. Bagaimana kolonis kulit hitam mencari kebebasan dengan mencuri dan menghancurkan makanan, sementara kelaparan menjadi alat kekuasaan dan senjata perang dan bagaimana orang Amerika Asli dan kulit hitam kehilangan perjuangan melawan kelaparan karena batasan yang diterapkan oleh pihak Inggris dan Amerika Serikat.
6. Analisis diplomasi makanan, imperialisme pangan, dan perang pangan - yang mengungkap strategi pencegahan kelaparan dalam klaim kekuasaan, menjaga komunitas, dan menjauhkan pesaing.
7. Penelitian luas tentang berbagai kelompok menunjukkan kelaparan sebagai alat diplomasi dan perang dalam Revolusi Amerika, menggarisbawahi keberagaman kekuasaan di Atlantik Inggris pada era itu.
Hatur nuhun.
October 25, 2020
War for food
A deep study by cornell university about wars because of hungriness. This is true in the beginning of history of America when colonialization begun and war with natives happened.
A deep study by cornell university about wars because of hungriness. This is true in the beginning of history of America when colonialization begun and war with natives happened.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews