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annieb123's review against another edition
5.0
Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
The Apache Diaspora is a well written annotated history of the Apache people presented by Dr. Paul Conrad. Due out 28th May 2021 from The University of Pennsylvania Press, it's 400 pages in print and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.
This is one book in UPenn's: "America in the 19th Century" this volume delineates the roughly four centuries of survival, genocide, upheaval, exploitation, and fortitude of the Ndé (Apache) people of the North American southwest.
This book, while academically rigorous and prodigiously annotated throughout is refreshingly accessible to non-academics. The language is understandable and readable and the author allows the subjects to speak eloquently for themselves, through their photos and the ephemera (diaries, family oral history, and archival evidence) they left behind.
I found myself often moved emotionally during reading this book and affected deeply by the plight of the people and their families depicted here. Seeing the resilience and mettle of these people against the backdrop of the nauseating prejudice and cruel mishandling by everyone was often difficult to read and process.
The text is liberally annotated and illustrated with line drawings, facsimiles of period documents, and an impressive number of photos. Although the treatment is admittedly academic, there's enough annotation and chapter notation and bibliography to satisfy the staunchest pedant - at the same time, there's a clear and compelling biographical narrative. I'm amazed that there's enough period record to reconstruct the stories of these families after so many years.
Five stars. I would recommend this book to readers of American history, war history, American culture, classroom instruction in native history, or allied subjects, ephemera, etc.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
The Apache Diaspora is a well written annotated history of the Apache people presented by Dr. Paul Conrad. Due out 28th May 2021 from The University of Pennsylvania Press, it's 400 pages in print and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.
This is one book in UPenn's: "America in the 19th Century" this volume delineates the roughly four centuries of survival, genocide, upheaval, exploitation, and fortitude of the Ndé (Apache) people of the North American southwest.
This book, while academically rigorous and prodigiously annotated throughout is refreshingly accessible to non-academics. The language is understandable and readable and the author allows the subjects to speak eloquently for themselves, through their photos and the ephemera (diaries, family oral history, and archival evidence) they left behind.
I found myself often moved emotionally during reading this book and affected deeply by the plight of the people and their families depicted here. Seeing the resilience and mettle of these people against the backdrop of the nauseating prejudice and cruel mishandling by everyone was often difficult to read and process.
The text is liberally annotated and illustrated with line drawings, facsimiles of period documents, and an impressive number of photos. Although the treatment is admittedly academic, there's enough annotation and chapter notation and bibliography to satisfy the staunchest pedant - at the same time, there's a clear and compelling biographical narrative. I'm amazed that there's enough period record to reconstruct the stories of these families after so many years.
Five stars. I would recommend this book to readers of American history, war history, American culture, classroom instruction in native history, or allied subjects, ephemera, etc.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
abbydee's review against another edition
I don't think that a broad-scale survey of this period of Apache history (Spanish Colonial to consolidation of current reservations) really existed before, at least on the academic side, and it's more or less exactly what I was looking for. The cross-border perspective and the author's facility with Spanish sources is important for a history of people like the Apache, whose family connections in Mexico are not always acknowledged. Conrad's overarching point is that those connections, concern for kin, guided Apache people's decision-making throughout this period and explains many of the more convoluted interactions between Apaches and colonial forces. And his other overarching point is that many U.S. policies towards "the Apache problem" were really just continuation of things the Spanish had done in Apachería.
Reading history always has "holy shit" moments for me, and I continue to be shocked even when I probably shouldn't be. Apache Diaspora, which begins with Spanish enslavement of Apaches in New Mexico and ends with twentieth-century imprisonment on reservations, makes me think all over again--how are we even living with unresolved violence at this scale and extremity? As bad as the echoes are, playing out in the twenty-first century, it's actually remarkable that they are not worse. The period of incredible violence that came to be called the Apache Wars is one of the most convoluted pieces of history I have ever tried to understand–and I keep trying, because it is critical to understanding the place where I live, who's here, and why.
Reading history always has "holy shit" moments for me, and I continue to be shocked even when I probably shouldn't be. Apache Diaspora, which begins with Spanish enslavement of Apaches in New Mexico and ends with twentieth-century imprisonment on reservations, makes me think all over again--how are we even living with unresolved violence at this scale and extremity? As bad as the echoes are, playing out in the twenty-first century, it's actually remarkable that they are not worse. The period of incredible violence that came to be called the Apache Wars is one of the most convoluted pieces of history I have ever tried to understand–and I keep trying, because it is critical to understanding the place where I live, who's here, and why.
katiemack's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide
nnia's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Deportation, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, War, Xenophobia, Racism, and Hate crime
Minor: Xenophobia, Violence, Abandonment, Stalking, Suicide, Trafficking, Ableism, Murder, Slavery, and War
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