"Departing from the traditional confines of the history of American Indians, Gregory Evans Dowd carefully draws on ethnographic sources to recapture the beliefs, thoughts, and actions of four principal Indian nations--Delaware, Shawnee, Cherokee, and Creek. The result is a sensitive portrayal of the militant Indians--often led by prophets--who came to conceive of themselves as a united people and who launched an intertribal campaign to resist the Anglo-American forces. Dowd also uncovers the Native American opposition to the movement for unity. An evocative history of long frustration and ultimate failure, A Spirited Resistance tells of a creative people, whose insights, magic, and ritual add a much-needed dimension to our understanding of the American Indian. Book jacket."--Jacket.

1. Power -- 2. The Indians' Great Awakening, 1745-1775 -- 3. Revolutionary Alliances, 1775-1783 -- 4. Neutrality, A World Too Narrow, 1775-1781 -- 5. A Spirit of Unity, 1783-1794 -- 6. Republican Interlude -- 7. Renewing Sacred Power in the North -- 8. Conflict in the South -- 9. Renewing Sacred Power in the South -- Afterword: A Conflict of Memory.