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4.4 AVERAGE
4.4 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Not bad but not what I was after. Limited focus on indigenous people and their history’s but a decent point of view on American history of colonization. I quit partway through because there wasn’t much detail in the facts presented and I think the thesis was relatively obvious from the start.
I don’t know much about indigenous history, so I am glad I read this. It is an introduction, but one I needed. A little long-winded and I would get lost at times, but an absolutely necessary read. Despite some author failings, i.e. taking too long on some sections, not being focused enough, etc., it details a reality I was never taught in school. America wasn’t a New World; it had been populated for centuries by advanced societies that were destroyed by genocide. She raised important questions as well, such as why don’t we admit and acknowledge colonialism and white supremacy as the root of indigenous genocide? Why do we always speak of indigenous peoples with “terminal narratives?” These are questions I have never asked myself, and I’m sure many others haven’t either. She also provided evidence for how we have completely white-washed many of these so called “battles” like at Tippecanoe, where militias actually ransacked towns, killing and mutilating communities, including settlements of purely women, children, and older people. The US government/military systematically killed refugees and anyone indigenous, all with the intent of total annihilation. The included first-person accounts of events were especially poignant. I encourage everyone to read this book.
i find it difficult to rate this book; on one hand, i appreciate it as an accessible and relatively short overview of the history of US genocide against native americans. on the other hand, the author’s brevity makes me wary of reductiveness and editorializing. i found this book most compelling when the author directly quoted from primary sources.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
fast-paced
Very good history pulling out threads of continuity and example. I listened as an audiobook so maybe this is why, and of course as a survey book it has to be an inch deep, but it did skip around geographically and in time a lot.
challenging
informative
medium-paced
This book's thesis is that US history is based on settler colonialism, and she makes a hell of a convincing argument. Surprisingly quick read, almost like pulling off a bandaid, but the bandaid is your misconceptions of American history.
Just not getting enough through audio and need to read read