An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873 (The Lamar Series in Western History)
Benjamin Madley's An American Genocide is a historical study of the violence and mass killing inflicted on California Indians between 1846 and 1873. It examines state and federal involvement, Indigenous resistance, and the violent foundations of modern California.
Work Information
A historical study that brings the violence against California Indians into clear view.
Published by Yale University Press, the book reconstructs what happened in California after the Gold Rush through extensive source-based research. Including Indigenous perspectives, it makes visible the structure of violence that had long been obscured.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Yale University Press
- Published
- 2017-06-27
- Pages
- 520 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 15.49 x 3.56 x 23.11 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780300230697
- ISBN-10
- 0300230699
- Price
- 5094 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/History/Americas/United States/19th Century
The first full account of the government-sanctioned genocide of California Indians under United States rule Winner of the 2016 Los Angeles Times Book Award for History and a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice “Gruesomely thorough. . . . Others have described some of these campaigns, but never in such strong terms and with so much blame placed directly on the United States government.”—Alexander Nazaryan, Newsweek Between 1846 and 1873, California’s Indian population plunged from perhaps 150,000 to 30,000. Benjamin Madley is the first historian to uncover the full extent of the slaughter, the involvement of state and federal officials, the taxpayer dollars that supported the violence, Indigenous resistance, who did the killing, and why the killings ended. This deeply researched book is a comprehensive and chilling history of an American genocide. Madley describes pre-contact California and precursors to the genocide before explaining how the Gold Rush stirred vigilante violence against California Indians. He narrates the rise of a state-sanctioned killing machine and the broad societal, judicial, and political support for genocide. Many participated: vigilantes, volunteer state militiamen, U.S. Army soldiers, U.S. congressmen, California governors, and others. The state and federal governments spent at least $1.7 million on campaigns against California Indians. Besides evaluating government officials’ culpability, Madley considers why the slaughter constituted genocide and how other possible genocides within and beyond the Americas might be investigated using the methods presented in this groundbreaking book.
Benjamin Madley is associate professor of history, University of California, Los Angeles, where he focuses on Native America, the United States, and genocide in world history. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
Reviews
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Very informative and descriptive history of what the Indigenous people suffered at the hands of those various imperialistic forces that swept over the New World. Sad but eye opening.
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An excellent read and documentation of the disgraceful genocide of the California native Americans! As a southern California coastal archeologist and student of this period of history, I find this collection of work essential and paramount to establish the recorded history of this important time. A difficult but most important read!
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Analyses remarquables superbement orchestrées, étude sachant utiliser les sources abondantes et variées, citations longues et très bien sélectionnées plutôt que des paraphrases, c'est tout ce que j'apprécie dans une étude historique. J'avais déjà lu sur le sujet William Secrest, une étude très intéressante. Le seul petit bémol: un brin excessif de juridisme, mais c'est un défaut très fréquent de ce côté de l'Atlantique.
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Me ha encantado contar la historia sobre los papeles. Solo con las fuentes se puede narrar la historia de California
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Very realistic, well produced story that keeps historical context.