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Reviews
The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk
ajbauckie's review
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
Really enjoyed this book. It's thorough and takes the community to task. The first paragraph was a testament to this. One of my favorites of the year but not for the faint of heart. Very interesting parts on reservations, treaties, and Indian rights; interesting to put it lightly.
kzelak's review
I had a really difficult time staying engaged in the book. It was very clinical
icox's review
It was interesting but I never found myself picking it up to read it when I checked it out. Maybe someday I’ll finish it.
fkshg8465's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
Very slow start. Much preferred Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States. It did eventually pick up momentum in terms of my interest, though I wish it had spent some more time on the forced sterilization practices, especially given how typical it was regarding the politically genocidal practices forced upon many Native Americans. However, this was also one of the more in depth looks at the eradication of Indian families, languages, and cultures through residential boarding schools, which I appreciated (though really, it still only scratched the surface).
Every time I read about US Indigenous history, I get so angry and wish they’d fought back more, even while recognizing I probably would still be living in Korea, had they done so. What the settlers did to them and what the US has continued to do to them since is unconscionable. I keep hoping things will get better for them and that surely, our collective society is rooting for them and wanting to see their circumstances and lives improve (as defined by the Indians), but then things like the 45th administration happens and all disenfranchised rights are trampled upon and rolled back decades, and then my hope dissipates. I can only wonder about the despair the tribes might feel and then be inspired that they continue to press forward and insist and persist on living despite all the many ways the US and the “explorers” before them have tried to delete them.
Every time I read about US Indigenous history, I get so angry and wish they’d fought back more, even while recognizing I probably would still be living in Korea, had they done so. What the settlers did to them and what the US has continued to do to them since is unconscionable. I keep hoping things will get better for them and that surely, our collective society is rooting for them and wanting to see their circumstances and lives improve (as defined by the Indians), but then things like the 45th administration happens and all disenfranchised rights are trampled upon and rolled back decades, and then my hope dissipates. I can only wonder about the despair the tribes might feel and then be inspired that they continue to press forward and insist and persist on living despite all the many ways the US and the “explorers” before them have tried to delete them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
j_m_alexander's review against another edition
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
2.75
Disease, warfare, and enslavement - these are the factors that lead to the decimation of American Indigenous peoples. The specifics may have varied, but the general fact remains that these were the original violence of an invading colonizing people, only to be followed by more warfare, deceptions, and the taking of indigenous children in order to "civilize" them.
Blackhawk writes plainly and convincingly. This is a history of a people that has been consigned to the margins where it wasn't eradicated from the text entirely, so Blackhawk is speaking for them, he has rediscovered American history.
“Incapable of conquering true wilderness,” he writes, “Europeans were highly competent in the skill of conquering other people. . . . They did not settle a virgin land. They invaded and displaced a resident population.”
I do think this is a good text for history buffs looking to widen the scope of their knowledge and fill in the gaps. It is somewhat academic in nature and thus a little dry. I must admit that it was a lot of particulars for me to absorb and I know that I frankly did not take in nearly as much as I would have liked. I did listen to this book and while Grasl as narrator seemed to say all the words, I can not say that he went beyond that. The delivery was strikingly flat. The audio format brought me back to history classes of yesteryear and I have to think that was purposeful direction, but my question is WHY? A little inflection and emphasis could have gone far.
Blackhawk writes plainly and convincingly. This is a history of a people that has been consigned to the margins where it wasn't eradicated from the text entirely, so Blackhawk is speaking for them, he has rediscovered American history.
“Incapable of conquering true wilderness,” he writes, “Europeans were highly competent in the skill of conquering other people. . . . They did not settle a virgin land. They invaded and displaced a resident population.”
I do think this is a good text for history buffs looking to widen the scope of their knowledge and fill in the gaps. It is somewhat academic in nature and thus a little dry. I must admit that it was a lot of particulars for me to absorb and I know that I frankly did not take in nearly as much as I would have liked. I did listen to this book and while Grasl as narrator seemed to say all the words, I can not say that he went beyond that. The delivery was strikingly flat. The audio format brought me back to history classes of yesteryear and I have to think that was purposeful direction, but my question is WHY? A little inflection and emphasis could have gone far.
lizmart88's review
challenging
informative
slow-paced
4.0
An excellent one-volume history of the United States - with indigenous peoples centered in the narrative. This is a groundbreaking work, unlike many of the histories that I have read previously. Ned Blackhawk re-frames how we have thought about and been taught about the pivotal moments in American history from the Spanish conquest in the Southwest to the Revolution to the Civil War and so much in between. It goes up until after the American Indian Movement started in 1970s. His analysis and insight is brilliantly written. I highly recommend this - buy it so you can read it slowly!