First published 2023
Native Americans have shaped every era of American history, yet most accounts treat Indigenous peoples as footnotes or obstacles. Ned Blackhawk corrects this distortion by weaving together five centuries of Native and non-Native histories from Spanish exploration through late twentieth century self-determination movements. He demonstrates that European colonization was never guaranteed to succeed, that Native nations influenced England's imperial troubles, and that Indian affairs sparked the first shots of the American Revolution. Blackhawk shows how California Indians became early Civil War casualties under federally funded militias, how Union victory transformed Western Native communities, and how twentieth century reservation activists reshaped American law. This synthesis reveals Indigenous peoples' enduring power, agency, and survival while offering readers a more complete and accurate understanding of how America developed.
Genres: history, non-fiction, native-american, american-history
Vibes: educational, informative, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-narrative, revisionist-history
Setting: America, California, West
Period: 16th-century, 17th-century, 18th-century, 19th-century, 20th-century
596 pages · Hardcover · Yale University Press