Genocidal colonialism in the U.S.

Book review: An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. (Four out of five stars)

This is a very interesting, well-researched and (not surprisingly) somewhat polemical book. Be prepared for some eye-opening, disturbing and likely disillusioning information, including:

<1> The young USA could not have survived financially (or at least would have needed to borrow far more money) if it had not been propped up by dollars derived from sales of land on the western frontier of the country (e.g. current Kentucky, Tennessee, parts of NC & SC, Ohio etc.) that had been seized from indigenous peoples with little or no compensation. (The idea that indigenous peoples had no concept of property isn’t quite right; for example, particular tribes considered certain areas their tribal property and defended those areas vs. interlopers like other tribes or colonial powers.)

<2> Most of the “heroes” of frontier US history e.g. Daniel Boone and Kit Carson, would more accurately be described as agents of “genocidal colonialism”.

There are also facts and observations that are not so much guilt-inducing for the typical current white American citizen (like myself) but just eye-opening and interesting. For example, in the southeast there was a significant amount of intermarriage among indigenous people, white settlers and enslaved people; as a result, there were cases in which an indigenous husband and white wife operated a plantation and owned slaves.

My only significant complaint about the book is that the author is obsessed with the theme of genocidal colonialism. Admittedly this represents a very large part of the interactions of white settlers and indigenous peoples in the US. But it causes two gaps in the book in my opinion:

<1> The author doesn’t tell us anything about the behavior, history, folkways, etc. of indigenous peoples except with respect to being subject to genocidal colonialism. For example, we don’t learn anything about relations between the various indigenous tribes or groups, actions of war or peace among them, conflicts over territorial boundaries, etc. Was there intermarriage between tribes? Did they ever play games/sports with each other? What was their diet like? Did it change over time? How was their health? We also don’t learn much about how indigenous peoples lived when they weren’t interacting with settlers other than learning that they engaged in more agriculture (esp. raising corn) than I had thought. The book really is only a history of indigenous peoples’ conflicts with invading European colonialists. Fair enough, but the title doesn’t make that clear.

<2> Due to the focus on genocidal colonialism, the author makes some questionable claims, including (if my memory is correct) that EVERY war the US has been involved in has been motivated by genocidal colonialism. OK, Hawaii may fit that theme but what about Korea? Were we really involved in the Korean war due to genocidal colonialist intentions? What about Vietnam? Given our 20th century obsession with anti-Communism, it seems a stretch to claim that our 20th century wars were fought to support only genocidal colonialist goals. WW1, WW2, Kuwait and Iraq also seem not to fit the claim of being driven by genocidal colonialism.

All around though, a very interesting, well-researched, well-written and riveting book.