Sidney H. Riggs. Arrows and Snakeskin

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Arrows and Snakeskin by Sidney H. Riggs
Summary of book
The book titled “Arrows and Snakeskin” gives a story of the social differences between the English native speakers and Indians including other minority groups. The novel also covers the story about the Pequot war giving factors that led to its occurrence that include racial discrimination and denial of access to quality medication including education, and the notable effects. The author of the novel is known as Sidney Riggs, who is a respected author, scholar, and educationist. The author adopted the best writing styles and use of superior writing incentives that enable readers of the piece to understand the message being communicated. The novel has been credited as one of his best works. It has been well received among historians and novel readers globally.
From the preamble stages, the novel depicts the animosity between the young Indians and the English speakers. The animosity was being fueled by the unfair treatment and discrimination that the Indians were facing among the English natives. The Indians were tired of the subjective rule and decided to fight for their liberation and freedom. The fight led to the Pequot War that resulted in the loss of many lives and property during the springs of 1637. The story details how the Pequot raiding party or Indians of New England captured an English young boy called John Bishop. The kidnapping was executed in the spring of 1637, and the kidnapper was a brother of the Pequot, who hated the whites with an extraordinary passion.

The cause for the strong hatred is that a Dutch trading post person murdered his father unfairly.
Therefore, the novel focuses on the Pequot war that was between the English natives and Indians. It details the journey towards the start of the war including how the war affected those involved.
The author
As noted, the writer of the novel Arrows and Snakeskin was a renowned scholar, writer, and educationist known as Sidney N. Riggs. The author who was passionate about socio-political issues including human justice affairs wrote the book to create awareness about the war of Pequot. His mission was to convey the historical causes of the war that were majorly related to bad governance and unfair treatment of the Indians with the aim of averting future occurrences of such acts.
Credentials
Critically, his superior credentials justify his work in terms of credibility, reliability, and informative nature. The credentials placed him in a better position to convey the animosity and war between native English people and the Indians. In terms of education, Riggs is a highly educated personality who earned a doctorate at attendee age from the New York University. The man who was born in the year 1892 was also a graduate of Syracuse University. Similarly, he taught for a long time as a senior lecturer in the schools of New Jersey. His teaching career spurned over 35 years of dedicated service. While he was teaching, he wrote several books until his demise in the year 1975. The books that include Arrows and Snakeskin have been impactful to many people socially, economically and politically. Additionally, he had immense interest and passion in Indians by learning or understanding their cultural practices, social behavior and challenges they were facing. The love for understanding the Indians earned him a name known as “Quaquatka by the Hopi people. The name means Eagle’s Nest.
From his education background, experience as an educator and understanding of Indian matters including lifestyle, critical views about Riggs suitability to give the narration are invalid. The scholar was well under his mandate and qualified to give the narration pertaining to the Pequot war. He was also the right person to provide historical injustices that the Indians faced having interacted with them and understood the way of life including challenges. This is apparent since the story about the Pequot war required someone with relevant information to tell.
The theme of the book
The book adopted a socio-political theme since it focuses on the Pequot war and the injustices that the Indians faced among English speakers. The unfair human practices led to social disharmony in the setting thereby leading to the war. Its main aim is to create awareness about causes of social disintegration including how communities can work together towards bridging the barriers for development.
The persuasive nature of the message
The author is persuasive in advancing his message from the preamble stages. This is evident as he provides a clear brief about the main message conveyed in the story that is about the Pequot war. He starts by detailing the kidnapping ordeal of John who is a young white boy of 14 years by an Indian Pequot, who hated the whites after the murder of his by a Dutch white. The story is also persuasive as he uses relevant symbolisms and characters to depict the activities that took place. Similarly, it was written in a simple and understandable language, its content flows effectively, and the tone is perfect.
The Relevance of the book based on the evaluation
The book is of great relevance to historians, politicians, authorities and the public in diverse settings. The relevance is attributable to its content, theme and the nature of the story that it conveys. Indeed, learning of the past injustices of diverse nature is instrumental in shaping future decisions and endeavors. The information about the Pequot war and its causes including effects is a milestone in enabling the Indians and the English speakers about the past in terms of where they are coming from and what transpired before. It builds human capacity on how to face the future and deal with similar situations that led to the social disintegration witnessed between the English natives and Indians. The book also equips young persons and other minority groups with the information on how to handle situations characterized by unfairness including the need to fight for the particular rights accorded in constitutional documents. It shows how dedication and selfless pursuit of justice can result in positive outcomes given that the initiatives undertaken by the Indian Pequot contributed immensely in liberating the Indians from the yolk of the unfair rule. Indeed, the book presents credible information that is noble for understanding the past practices and the relationship that existed between the English natives and Indians. Hence I can use it again as a point of reference.