February 2015
Review Copy
The Life of William Apess, Pequot
by Philip F. Gura
216 pp., 1 illus., notes, bibl., index
ISBN 978-1-4696-1998-9 $26.00 cloth
Publication date: March 2, 2015
For more information: http://uncpress.unc.edu/books/11756.html
A Selection of the History Book Club, Military Book Club, Scientific American Book Club,
and Book-of-the-Month Club 2
For a selection of publicity materials for media use, including a fact sheet and jacket image,
please go to www.ibiblio.org/uncp/media/gura/
Praise:
“[An] engaging, insightful, and thoroughly detailed biography.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“This outstanding biography is essential reading for those interested in either Native American studies or
American literature.”—Library Journal, starred review
“Well-researched and enlightening.” —Booklist
The Pequot Indian intellectual, author, and itinerant preacher William Apess (1798–1839) was one the
most important voices of the nineteenth century. Here, Philip F. Gura offers the first book-length
chronicle of Apess's fascinating and consequential life. After an impoverished childhood marked by
abuse, Apess soldiered with American troops during the War of 1812, converted to Methodism, and rose
to fame as a lecturer who lifted a powerful voice of protest against the plight of Native Americans in New
England and beyond. His 1829 autobiography, A Son of the Forest, stands as the first published by a
Native American writer. Placing Apess's activism on behalf of Native American people in the context of
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the era's rising tide of abolitionism, Gura argues that this founding figure of Native intellectual history
deserves greater recognition in the pantheon of antebellum reformers. Following Apess from his early life
through the development of his political radicalism to his tragic early death and enduring legacy, this
much-needed biography showcases the accomplishments of an extraordinary Native American.
Philip F. Gura is William S. Newman Distinguished Professor of American Literature and
Culture at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His many books include Truth's Ragged Edge:
The Early American Novel and American Transcendentalism: A History, which was a finalist for the
National Book Critics Circle Award.
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