Review: An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Dunbar-Ortiz

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (ReVisioning American History, #3)An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.25-3.5

This was not an enjoyable book-not due to the writing, Dunbar-Ortiz is perfectly capable in that department. But this history she records is unbelievably depressing.

Some of her analytical tools fail her (critical theory, Marxist theory) and cause her to at times over-state the case or impute ill (Colonialist and Racist) motives to those who were undoubtedly concerned more with self-preservation and opportunity than with the destruction of the Native Peoples of the United States. One needn't say all white settlers and government officials had ill motives in order to make clear the horrific impacts such motives had in influencing the culture.

But whether or not one agrees with all of her analysis, the plain facts recorded of the immense number of Indigenous people killed, displaced, and otherwise harmed, treaties re-written, broken, and ignored, and the many attempts by the U.S. government to erase from existence American Indians is a heartbreaking and under-told story.

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