An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (ReVisioning History)

🪶'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! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Everyone should read this! excellent work. This put so much in perspective. Dunbar Ortiz is an excellent author and historian. Highly recommend this one. Made it in top 5 nonfiction. Kinzer’s works complement this one well.

This book turns the world of grade school and high school American History on its head. It is a history written by an indigenous historian who clearly has a command of her material. The work could be considered a socio-historical or anthropo-historical presentation of the multiple tribes that were wiped out by the British colonists who settled the Americas. In fact, the author emphasizes the notion of settler colonialism, whose goal, she argues, is genocide. The author has written a very readable book that is packed with information about the real historical founding of the United States.

It is unbelievable what the Native Americans went thru with the Europeans. The were slaughtered or tortured if they did convert to Christianity. The Pope finally came a few years ago and apologized to the Native Americans though it was a few centuries too late and overdue. Good research and very informative but does get a little political toward the end of the book which is why I deducted a star.

This book didn't just teach me history; it introduced me to a continent. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's meticulous, devastating work finally gave voice and depth to the countless Indigenous nations, like the Powhatan Confederacy, the Wampanoag, the Shawnee, the Lakota, the Diné, who are often reduced to footnotes or stereotypes in standard texts. She doesn't just mention them; she presents their political structures, their diplomacy, their resistance, and their worldviews with a scholar's care and an advocate's passion. Learning their specific stories, often for the first time, made the scale of the genocide not an abstract horror, but a series of countless, irreplaceable worlds destroyed. This is the history we were robbed of, masterfully restored.

Exceptional historical analysis of the genocide of the native Americans and imperialist practices of the United States. A must read!

Humanity has not changed over the last 5-10,000 years. When we settled down to become farmers, we produced more food than we consumed, and four ancient civilizations dominated humanity 5,000 years ago - Egypt, Sumer, India and China. Egyptians enslaved Jews and evolved through the Roman Empire that officially adopted christianity in 380ce and became the 2.3 billion Christians worldwide today by migrating westward to Europe and the Americas, along with Africa that is shared with Muslims (who evolved through the Sumer-Amorites-Hittites-Persians-Ottoman route). Roxanne's book is a descriptive look at the U.S. History that details the genocide of the Native Americans under a nicer label of ethnic cleansing today. The tactics, attitude, use of Christianity backed up by military force form the core of the Innovator World of Christians who focus a lot more on innovations than morality. To sustain humanity, we must balance innovations with morality reflected in the universally accepted golden rule: Do unto others what you want others to do unto you. Especially in this age of Internet, no one can continue to hide behind Hollywood fantasies and brainwash our children through education that do not reflect reality. This book is refreshing, detailed, and very descriptive (albeit depressing at times). The content is available in bits in pieces everywhere. This is among the first attempts I know that integrate the pieces together as they relate to Native Americans. There are still a few missing pieces like the 1529 Treaty of Zaragoza was a complement to the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas that defined the world as Spanish and Portuguese territory, only to encourage the innovative British empire to conceptualize a new type of entity called "company." The British East India Company started in 1600 partly to bypass the authority of the Pope, after they learned the tremendous wealth available in the New World especially after 1588 when the British defeated the Spanish Armada that was funded by the 20% royalty collected from all trades in the Americas. Native American history is an important piece of USA history as part of the global Christianity community component of the Christian, Muslim, Indian and Chinese communities that make up over 90% of humanity today and analyzed in the Moral Innovations framework. The key shortcoming of the book is what future actions to take. The last couple of pages address education, but descriptive education of the past is not enough. The value that should be taught to our children is to balance innovations with integrity by following the golden rule. There is too much of a disconnect if there is an abrupt introduction of a descriptive textbook of Native American history. It will take time and sustained effort to address and evaluate how USA must re-assess the push for global human rights when imperial USA abuses its own Native Americans who worked well with African American slaves during the civil war. USA is a great nation. It is driven by Protestant values and a core attribute is the American Dream which gives opportunities for the motivated to pursue success. This is becoming more difficult as the wealth gap widens. However, joining the pursuit of money by conforming to the abuse of fellow Native Americans should not be encouraged. Some schools teach tools of trade that ignores core values, but it is the core values such as moral innovations that sustain a great society like the USA. This book is a must read to start in that direction. Check out the blog moralinnovator.wordpress.com

An Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz may be the most important book I have ever read. That is a personal and subjective remark, but true. As an indoctrinated child of the U.S. public education system and a graduate of a U.S. University with a degree in U.S. History, and a lifetime of autodidactic immersion into the study of U.S. History, my reaction to this thoroughly researched and painstakingly documented presentation of an alternative perspective was like barely surviving a modern war. I was disoriented beyond belief, shattered mentally, feeling like I had been blitzkrieged into submission, but I emerged absolutely convinced of the truth of what I read. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz tells An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States with meticulous attention to an impressive volume of verifiable factual information, beginning with the premise (later on competently argued and fully proven) that from the beginning U.S. history is a tale of colonial settlement bent on decimating an entire indigenous population in order to appropriate vast new properties and resources. In other words, an invasion of a land inhabited by a pre-existing people with laws and covenants and self-governmental structures identifying them as the rightful owners and rulers of this place. In addition, the author in turn decimates the puerile understandings fostered by generations of teachers and scholars regarding the motivations and actual practices of our so-called American heroes, almost to a man an apologist for genocide, also relating two-hundred years of precedent to the continued intent behind U.S. military involvement throughout the world. She brilliantly exposes the lies behind our self-congratulatory stance, and every U.S. citizen would be well-served to face the truth of his own history. A great starting place for righting wrongs and creating a better country. Joel R. Dennstedt – Author / Top Reviewer for Readers’ Favorite

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.

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!

This is a remarkable book. It is much more than Native American history. The book is interesting to read. While it talks about historical facts, it keeps the reader engaged and always wanting more. The writer made some great analogies to modern policies and how past history is still being applied today. I did not always agree with the analogies, but the logic and the connections are undeniable. In many parts of the book, I wondered how I never heard of this before. On many occasions I had doubts that this is really what happened. Every time I checked with other references, all the facts in the book were proven true. This just testifies to how much I did not know about native history. Being an immigrant myself, I have always wondered why native history is not in the front page. Why is it not the first hall in our museums. My children learned very little about that history at school. In many parts of the book, I had to stop reading because it was hard to know about all these atrocities. Many of immigrants like myself, think we were never part of this genocide. Therefore, it is not our fault. I think if we did not pay attention to Native rights and struggles to have a decent life, then we are not as innocent as we claim.