When I was reading this book I didn't realize that November was officially Native American Heritage Month and here I was reading two studies of American history by indigenous scholars. I have previously just read Ned Blackhawk's Rediscovery of America.
This book explains how the American history that we were taught in school and that had been taken as the standard long accepted truthful account of the "discovery" of America was actually based on myth and distortion. The so-called conquest of the "new world" was the centuries long onslaught of racist genocide and greed.
The author explores the fascinating world of Native nations who dominated the North American continent for centuries after the first European arrivals. It was interesting to get a more realistic understanding of the various colonial powers scrambling amongst themselves to claim a vast continent controlled by indigenous nations. The author describes a so called "colonial America" actually being an Indigenous America that only very gradually and slowly over several centuries became colonial. He destroys many false claims about colonial America.
The book is very well written and researched. It was a staggering revelation of American history.
No comments:
Post a Comment