A review by kbuchanan
Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt

3.0

The theme of this book could easily be described as "however awful you this time was, it was infinitely more so." Saunt systematically presents one era in the continual US government policy of displacement and disenfranchisement of Native Americans, making use of a tidal wave of primary and secondary documents in one of the most well-documented historical accounts I have read. This does result in the "narrative" sometimes getting a bit bogged down simply through an overabundance of detail. Regardless, the picture this work paints is chilling. The wanton cruelty and ugly racist rhetoric is on display here in its full force. Saunt makes certain too that we understand the inextricable link between Native American dispossession and the slave economy. He minces no words on this. The Gone-with-the-Wind-evoking epithet "plantation" finds no place here. Instead, Saunt refers to them as what they were, slave labor camps. An important read about a shameful period of US history with implications that are still in place today.