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A review by geve_
The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman
Not putting stars on this one.
This is a first hand account of the author's experience traveling the Oregon Trail, or rather, part of it. He was physically unable to complete the journey, which is interesting considering he talked a lot of shit about how weak and frail women are, but tens of thousands of them walked the entire trail. ANYWAYS, he ended up hanging out with some Lakota instead and had a lot to say about them too.
I think this is an interesting read in many ways. It's a snapshot in time, through a very particular lens. He was clearly racist, and his opinions of people were based on whether they were French, German, Scottish or Native. I wouldn't take his thoughts on Lakota society to mean very much since he was racist, and also seeing them at a pretty fucking terrible point in their history. Reading his stupid opinions about shit is still pretty useful, since those were opinions probably held by quite a few whites of the same era, and recognizing that helps us think critically about many stories and "truths" of that time. Assuming what he's describing is an accurate representation of what was really happening is probably not the best idea.
This is a first hand account of the author's experience traveling the Oregon Trail, or rather, part of it. He was physically unable to complete the journey, which is interesting considering he talked a lot of shit about how weak and frail women are, but tens of thousands of them walked the entire trail. ANYWAYS, he ended up hanging out with some Lakota instead and had a lot to say about them too.
I think this is an interesting read in many ways. It's a snapshot in time, through a very particular lens. He was clearly racist, and his opinions of people were based on whether they were French, German, Scottish or Native. I wouldn't take his thoughts on Lakota society to mean very much since he was racist, and also seeing them at a pretty fucking terrible point in their history. Reading his stupid opinions about shit is still pretty useful, since those were opinions probably held by quite a few whites of the same era, and recognizing that helps us think critically about many stories and "truths" of that time. Assuming what he's describing is an accurate representation of what was really happening is probably not the best idea.