An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (REVISIONING HISTORY)

This history book retells the United States from an Indigenous perspective, tracing a long history of colonization and resistance from a different angle than standard textbooks.

historyIndigenous peoplescolonialismU.S. history

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Work Information

It reassembles the national story from the ground up.

The book reads U.S. origins not as discovery or expansion, but as a continuum of violence and resistance against Indigenous peoples. It has an academic backbone while remaining accessible to general readers.

Review Summaries

It is introduced as a history book that challenges colonial assumptions from the ground up.

Book Information

Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 2014-09-16
Pages: 320 pages
Language: 英語
Size: 15.7 x 3 x 23.4 cm
ISBN-13: 9780807000403
ISBN-10: 080700040X
Category: 洋書/Politics & Social Sciences/Social Sciences/Specific Demographics/Native American Studies

New York Times Bestseller Now part of the HBO docuseries "Exterminate All the Brutes," written and directed by Raoul Peck Recipient of the American Book Award The first history of the United States told from the perspective of indigenous peoples Today in the United States, there are more than five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations comprising nearly three million people, descendants of the fifteen million Native people who once inhabited this land. The centuries-long genocidal program of the US settler-colonial regimen has largely been omitted from history. Now, for the first time, acclaimed historian and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz offers a history of the United States told from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and reveals how Native Americans, for centuries, actively resisted expansion of the US empire. With growing support for movements such as the campaign to abolish Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day and the Dakota Access Pipeline protest led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States is an essential resource providing historical threads that are crucial for understanding the present. In An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States , Dunbar-Ortiz adroitly challenges the founding myth of the United States and shows how policy against the Indigenous peoples was colonialist and designed to seize the territories of the original inhabitants, displacing or eliminating them. And as Dunbar-Ortiz reveals, this policy was praised in popular culture, through writers like James Fenimore Cooper and Walt Whitman, and in the highest offices of government and the military. Shockingly, as the genocidal policy reached its zenith under President Andrew Jackson, its ruthlessness was best articulated by US Army general Thomas S. Jesup, who, in 1836, wrote of the Seminoles: “The country can be rid of them only by exterminating them.” Spanning more than four hundred years, this classic bottom-up peoples’ history radically reframes US history and explodes the silences that have haunted our national narrative. An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States is a 2015 PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature.

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz , a New York Times best-selling author, grew up in rural Oklahoma, the daughter of a tenant farmer and part-Indian mother. She has been active in the international Indigenous movement for more than four decades and is known for her lifelong commitment to national and international social justice issues. After receiving her PhD in history at the University of California at Los Angeles, she taught in the newly established Native American Studies Program at California State University, Hayward, and helped found the Departments of Ethnic Studies and Women’s Studies. Her 1977 book The Great Sioux Nation was the fundamental document at the first international conference on Indigenous peoples of the Americas, held at the United Nations’ headquarters in Geneva. Dunbar-Ortiz is the author or editor of seven other books, including Roots of Resistance: A History of Land Tenure in New Mexico . She lives in San Francisco.

Reviews

There are many stories about black people in America in this book. The white people really hurt them during the civil war. I feel bad for them. Decent book. Also they killed all the Natives but thats how you rule countries.
If you're really interested in History, you must read this book. We must face the lies we've built our modern way of thinking on, and this book will tear down many of the myths we've woven about the democratic, well intentions of our Western societies. If we don't face these truths, we'll continue doing what the indigenous peoples of America have suffered from for so long. And this is not very Christian. Nor democratic. Nor well intended.
🪶'An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States' by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is not simply an alternative history book; it is a foundational, necessary, and utterly transformative piece of scholarship that deserves to be read by every single person who wants to understand the true nature of the American experiment. This book is a gut-punch of clarity, earning a rare 5 out of 5 stars for its profound historical contribution, meticulous research, and powerful narrative voice! ⭐️The Definitive Reframing of US History! What makes this book essential is the author's relentless and rigorous focus on the Indigenous perspective. Dunbar-Ortiz completely dismantles the pervasive "founding myth" of the United States as a glorious, divinely ordained nation built on empty land. She replaces this narrative with the undeniable truth that the U.S. was founded as a settler-colonial state, and its expansion was a centuries-long, systematic program of genocide and land dispossession. 🪶Settler-Colonialism: The book clearly and unequivocally establishes that U.S. policy towards Indigenous nations was not a series of unfortunate accidents or regrettable frontier skirmishes. It was a deliberate, ideological, and often brutal effort to eliminate the original inhabitants in order to seize their territory. ⭐️Challenging the Canon: By revealing the truth of this "way of war" from the colonial era through the 20th century, Dunbar-Ortiz forces the reader to confront the reality that many of the celebrated figures and events in U.S. history are directly tied to these extermination policies. 🪶Unflinching Scholarship and Emotional Impact: Upon research I discovered that Dunbar-Ortiz, is a renowned historian and activist, synthesizes vast amounts of scholarship plenty capable of creating a chronological and coherent history! ⭐️Meticulous Documentation: The writing is supported by extensive research, drawing heavily on Indigenous voices, treaties, government documents, and the words of the colonizers themselves. This makes the argument unassailable; the facts speak for themselves. 🪶A Painful but Necessary Read: Be forewarned!! This book is intensely difficult to read at times due to the sheer volume of injustice and calculated violence described. However, it descends into melodrama. Her tone is one of fierce, unwavering truth-telling that is vital for achieving an honest understanding of the past. ⭐️Connecting Past to Present: Crucially, the book doesn't end in the 19th century. It draws a clear, straight line from the policies of settler-colonialism to modern issues of militarism, resource exploitation, and the continued struggle for Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. 🪶The Value of the Book: This is not a book for someone looking for comfort; it’s a book for someone looking for truth. It should be a book of MANDITORY reading for all high schools and colleges across the country. It is a work of intellectual integrity that provides the necessary context for understanding the cultural, political, and social landscape of the United States today. If you are serious about understanding history beyond the myths, about reckoning with America's origins, and about honoring the resistance and perseverance of the Indigenous peoples, you must read this book. It's a permanent fixture in my library! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book changed so many of my views of Native American history - taking stereotypical views of Native Americans and their diversity and showing how they were systematically cleared from the land by brute force , men women and children killed, crops burnt, livestock killed. Rather than scalping being something Indians did to the people it was white people who collected scalps for bounties. This book documents how treaties with Native Americans were systematically broken and how they were treated as inferior and needing to be exterminated. It is a shocking and much needed account.
Great book. Bringing finally the truth about what the crimes settlers (guided by religious motivations!) committed against the Native Americans (500 Nations, your remember?). The genocide lasted centuries, as the "last frontier" moved further and further to the West, reaching finally the Pacific Ocean. And their land was stollen. Great explanations how the mindset persists in the present US politics and military. An eye opener. You'll never see the US, and the European settlers (maybe your/my ancestors?) in the same manner. History repeats and repeats ... What was worse: the Holocaust or this two-century long genocide? The book ends with very interesting perspectives into the present and future of the US. Awakes emotions and questioning as moving as "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee", when not more ... Thanks to the wonderful work & investigations of the author. Very strong recommendation!