BY: SHANNON BURNS

INDIAN TIME - Vol. 24 #01 - Tsiothohrko:wa / January 12, 2006 Edition - Page 8

Darren Bonaparte is no stranger to Haudenosaunee history. For years he has been a self-described history buff, reading and absorbing countless books and documents to feed his appetite for knowledge. What started as a hobby for him has now turned into a profession, as he recently released his first book on the history of the Iroquois, effectively titled CREATION & CONFEDERATION: THE LIVING HISTORY OF THE IROQUOIS.

The denseness of history is broken down in the book by Bonaparte into a reader-friendly style. With years of journalism experience under his belt, he's accustomed to taking complex issues and simplifying them into common language. Also representative of his journalism background is the book's inclusive style. The author is telling each story the Iroquois with the Iroquois as his target audience.

When Bonaparte was asked recently why he chose to write another book on the Iroquois, when it is the most written about Nation, he replied, "For one thing, it's written by one of our own. I'm not some white scholar. It's time that we took the subject back from the outside world."

Bonaparte's sense of humor contributes to the book's light style, as he's not afraid to divert for a moment from the topic to throw in a curve or a joke. Chapter 8, titled "Dating the Iroquois Confederacy," starts off with the sentence: "No, this isn't the chapter about how to add my good-looking Iroquois cousins to your little black book."

With help from the endless number of documents and resources Bonaparte has access to, he begins his book at the beginning of Iroquois history, and moves through time, focusing heavily on the story of the Peacemaker. While the book is a record of Iroquois history in its own, it also serves to bring to light some of the evolution that occurred of not only the culture and people of the Iroquois, but of the stories too. The story of the Peacemaker, for instance, evolved significantly before the late 1800s when the commonly told story was finally put down on paper. Prior to that time, the story changed just as the culture changed and Bonaparte wants the readers of his book to come to terms with why those changes took place.

"Why did the story suddenly flourish this way?" he asks.

According to Bonaparte, "a dozen different versions" of the Peacemaker's story are out there, and people are often afraid to tell the story for fear that they're telling the wrong version.

Bonaparte recognizes that by questioning the history of the Iroquois, he's subjected himself to criticism and some people may be upset by his book. He's been called a "Mohawk Myth Buster" but he wants to get people "thinking about their culture."

The book, which was released early this month, is the start of a series Bonaparte is working on. The second book, which is already underway, will focus on the Iroquois' contact with Europeans and will also feature little known information about the Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.

In the third book, Bonaparte plans to examine the impacts of the French and Indian War on the Iroquois, and vice versa. In this book, he'll also begin to discuss the beginning of land sales.

Bonaparte has great ambitions for his work, but will feel satisfied even if the Iroquois are the only people to read his book.

"Even if it's just our own people...I'm happy with that," he said. "I hope people hang on to this book...I challenge people to read it."