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seamusryan's review against another edition
4.0
What a great book! Very unique perspective showing the influence of Native American communities on European culture and development
ncghammo's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
littlitteratur's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
5.0
A must read for all Europeans, and a reminder for Norwegians to have the utmost solidarity for those seeking the return of their heritage - give our stuff back, Danish! It's 2024 for fyks sake
mergwenthur's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This is a must read! An incredibly interesting part of history which, as the book discusses, is often unknown.
Caroline was very honest and real about her intentions for this book and she constantly reiterates how she is not speaking FOR Indigenous people. Throughout, she also explains why she is/isn't using certain terminology which is key to discussions around colonialism.
Personally, I know very little about Indigenous history but overall the contents were easy to follow! There were definitely times when I had to flick back because a few different people had been mentioned but I struggle with that in general (fiction and nonfiction) and I know if I read it again it'll be easier.
Caroline pretty much uncovers a wide range of Indigenous history (in Europe) detailing both enslaved and free people which is also so important!
Caroline was very honest and real about her intentions for this book and she constantly reiterates how she is not speaking FOR Indigenous people. Throughout, she also explains why she is/isn't using certain terminology which is key to discussions around colonialism.
Personally, I know very little about Indigenous history but overall the contents were easy to follow! There were definitely times when I had to flick back because a few different people had been mentioned but I struggle with that in general (fiction and nonfiction) and I know if I read it again it'll be easier.
Caroline pretty much uncovers a wide range of Indigenous history (in Europe) detailing both enslaved and free people which is also so important!
siria's review against another edition
challenging
informative
4.25
This is a solid look at how Indigeneous Americans encountered early modern Europe: from the enslaved women who brought knowledge of various foodways to Spain and Portugal, to the visitors to various royal courts in western Europe, to the Inuk infant who was displayed in a London tavern before his untimely death so far from home.
Caroline Dodds Pennock brings together a very fragmentary sourcebase, and does a great job at reading it closely and with sensitivity. I'm a bit bemused by the other reviews I've seen on here which complain either that Dodds Pennock isn't covering "new" ground, or that she engages in repetitive/pointless speculation about people and events. I don't think that's a fair reading of what she's trying to do here, which is to think carefully through the nature of the surviving sources, to think about what they can (and cannot) show us, and to walk the reader through how a historian thinks about these issues. On Savage Shores is a book that's clearly written in the tradition of works inspired by Stoler's Along the Archival Grain and Saidiya Hartman's "Venus in Two Acts", scholarship which demonstrates that the archives are never neutral.
A powerful reminder that encounter is always a mutual act.
Caroline Dodds Pennock brings together a very fragmentary sourcebase, and does a great job at reading it closely and with sensitivity. I'm a bit bemused by the other reviews I've seen on here which complain either that Dodds Pennock isn't covering "new" ground, or that she engages in repetitive/pointless speculation about people and events. I don't think that's a fair reading of what she's trying to do here, which is to think carefully through the nature of the surviving sources, to think about what they can (and cannot) show us, and to walk the reader through how a historian thinks about these issues. On Savage Shores is a book that's clearly written in the tradition of works inspired by Stoler's Along the Archival Grain and Saidiya Hartman's "Venus in Two Acts", scholarship which demonstrates that the archives are never neutral.
A powerful reminder that encounter is always a mutual act.
sophiemattholie's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
this was objectively really good history and I enjoyed it but also it didn't hold my attention that well
jeffburns's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.0
First, kudos to the longest "Introduction" in publishing history. It has set a record. It went on and on and on and on. Why? Basically so that the author could explain, justify, and apologize for all the word choices that she made because the language of writing history is so triggering these days.
Now, this book is by no means thrilling, exciting, suspenseful, or a page-turner, but it is groundbreaking in a major way. There are lots and lots of histories of European contacts with indigenous Americans and the African slave trade and the African Diaspora, but this book is unique because it literally takes the opposite direction. From 1492 to the early 17th century, hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people from the Caribbean and the Americas were taken to Europe, mostly to the Iberian Peninsula. Some were captured and enslaved, some volunteered or were sent by their rulers, maybe in hopes of receiving benefits for their people or for themselves. Some never returned home, some did, and some made multiple trips back and forth. Some were treated cruelly as property, some were presented as ambassadors in royal courts, some become affiliated with religious orders, and some used European laws and courts to fight for their freedom and equality.
Pennock has scoured archives and contemporary accounts to present the stories of these people, those who moved between two worlds. It's a fresh and necessary perspective.