An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States

Great; necessary. Half of my book club read this while the other half reading Indigenous Continent, and I think based on David Treuer's review in The New Yorker, I'm happy about my pick. Dunbar-Ortiz has a sweeping comprehensive view of the historical details plus a searing vision of the completely cohesive through line between our founding (and ongoing) genocide against Indigenous peoples and current imperialist foreign policy (and the delusional moral bankruptcy and hypocrisy at the center of it). I also especially appreciated the last chapter on what the future may hold. I occasionally had trouble tracking the geography of what she recounts because she tended to organize by theme/time period, but I think this also reflects that the Indigenous experience included both forced relocation and resistance through geographical flexibility.

This book tells the history of the United States with regard to the indigenous inhabitants of the land. It tells the stories that were left out of the history most people educated in the US learned in school, including stories about people we were raised to think of as admirable, like Daniel Boone. After it fills in the gaps you didn't know were in your education about the forming of the United States, it shows how our stance in the world today as a dominant power, bringer of democracy, a militaristic empire, has developed directly out of the way we treated the indigenous people of this land. This is an eye opening book, suitable for academic environments and for general readers. It has an extensive bibliography and notes, as well as an index, but is written in approachable language. Everyone should read it.

This book is a history of the United States that follows the indigenous peoples' that have been here for millennia. It discusses the political and socioeconomic ties indigenous peoples' have had with the United States government and how much of that history is unknown to the general populace. I learned so much in this book that I have never been taught or heard about. I had a baseline knowledge about the genocide and erasure that the US government enacted on the indigenous peoples', but learning the details was truly harrowing. Dunbar-Ortiz walks the reader through many major people in American history who were very anti-Native American and who worked very hard to eradicate their very existence. Some of the people I already knew about, like Andrew Jackson, but many of them I wasn't aware of and it was extremely disheartening, although sadly, not surprising. She then walks us through the additional struggles Native American's still face today, which I knew absolutely nothing about. I'm very glad I now know these things so I can do what I can moving forward to speak out about these injustices and help where I'm able.

This book is an important read for anyone living in the US because it is very important for us to come to terms with our violent, racist background and start to work towards reparations for these groups of people that we have systematically abused for our entire history.