Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

An Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz may be the most important book I have ever read. That is a personal and subjective remark, but true. As an indoctrinated child of the U.S. public education system and a graduate of a U.S. University with a degree in U.S. History, and a lifetime of autodidactic immersion into the study of U.S. History, my reaction to this thoroughly researched and painstakingly documented presentation of an alternative perspective was like barely surviving a modern war. I was disoriented beyond belief, shattered mentally, feeling like I had been blitzkrieged into submission, but I emerged absolutely convinced of the truth of what I read. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz tells An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States with meticulous attention to an impressive volume of verifiable factual information, beginning with the premise (later on competently argued and fully proven) that from the beginning U.S. history is a tale of colonial settlement bent on decimating an entire indigenous population in order to appropriate vast new properties and resources. In other words, an invasion of a land inhabited by a pre-existing people with laws and covenants and self-governmental structures identifying them as the rightful owners and rulers of this place. In addition, the author in turn decimates the puerile understandings fostered by generations of teachers and scholars regarding the motivations and actual practices of our so-called American heroes, almost to a man an apologist for genocide, also relating two-hundred years of precedent to the continued intent behind U.S. military involvement throughout the world. She brilliantly exposes the lies behind our self-congratulatory stance, and every U.S. citizen would be well-served to face the truth of his own history. A great starting place for righting wrongs and creating a better country. Joel R. Dennstedt – Author / Top Reviewer for Readers’ Favorite