Indigenous continent: the epic contest for North America
(Book)
Description
There is an old, deeply rooted story about America that goes like this: Columbus "discovers" a strange continent and brings back tales of untold riches. The European empires rush over, eager to stake out as much of this astonishing "New World" as possible. Though Indigenous peoples fight back, they cannot stop the onslaught. White imperialists are destined to rule the continent, and history is an irreversible march toward Indigenous destruction. Yet as with other long-accepted origin stories, this one, too, turns out to be based in myth and distortion. In Indigenous Continent, acclaimed historian Pekka Hämäläinen presents a sweeping counternarrative that shatters the most basic assumptions about American history. Shifting our perspective away from Jamestown, Plymouth Rock, the Revolution, and other well-trodden episodes on the conventional timeline, he depicts a sovereign world of Native nations whose members, far from helpless victims of colonial violence, dominated the continent for centuries after the first European arrivals. From the Iroquois in the Northeast to the Comanches on the Plains, and from the Pueblos in the Southwest to the Cherokees in the Southeast, Native nations frequently decimated white newcomers in battle. Even as the white population exploded and colonists' land greed grew more extravagant, Indigenous peoples flourished due to sophisticated diplomacy and leadership structures. By 1776, various colonial powers claimed nearly all of the continent, but Indigenous peoples still controlled it--as Hämäläinen points out, the maps in modern textbooks that paint much of North America in neat, color-coded blocks confuse outlandish imperial boasts for actual holdings. In fact, Native power peaked in the late nineteenth century, with the Lakota victory in 1876 at Little Big Horn, which was not an American blunder, but an all-too-expected outcome. Hämäläinen ultimately contends that the very notion of "colonial America" is misleading, and that we should speak instead of an "Indigenous America" that was only slowly and unevenly becoming colonial. The evidence of Indigenous defiance is apparent today in the hundreds of Native nations that still dot the United States and Canada. Necessary reading for anyone who cares about America's past, present, and future, Indigenous Continent restores Native peoples to their rightful place at the very fulcrum of American history.
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Citations
Hämäläinen, P. (20232022). Indigenous continent: the epic contest for North America. Liveright paperback edition. New York, NY, Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Hämäläinen, Pekka, 1967-. 20232022. Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America. New York, NY, Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Hämäläinen, Pekka, 1967-, Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America. New York, NY, Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, 20232022.
MLA Citation (style guide)Hämäläinen, Pekka. Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America. Liveright paperback edition. New York, NY, Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, 20232022.
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Record Information
Last Sierra Extract Time | Nov 26, 2024 04:09:45 PM |
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Last File Modification Time | Nov 26, 2024 04:09:54 PM |
Last Grouped Work Modification Time | Nov 26, 2024 04:09:52 PM |
MARC Record
LEADER | 05910cam 2200481 i 4500 | ||
---|---|---|---|
001 | on1362866274 | ||
003 | OCoLC | ||
005 | 20231004081622.0 | ||
008 | 230129t20232022nyuab e 001 0 eng d | ||
015 | |a GBC3D5779 |2 bnb | ||
016 | 7 | |a 021143860 |2 Uk | |
020 | |a 9781324094067 |q (paperback) | ||
020 | |a 1324094060 |q (paperback) | ||
035 | |a ocm1362866274 | ||
040 | |a YDX |b eng |c YDX |d BDX |d UKMGB |d OCLCQ |d BRG |d CNTCS |d ICK | ||
043 | |a n------ | ||
049 | |a CKEA | ||
050 | 4 | |a E77 |b .H197 2023 | |
082 | 0 | |a 970.004/97 |2 23 | |
100 | 1 | |a Hämäläinen, Pekka, |d 1967- |e author. | |
245 | 1 | 0 | |a Indigenous continent : |b the epic contest for North America / |c Pekka Hämäläinen. |
250 | |a Liveright paperback edition. | ||
264 | 1 | |a New York, NY : |b Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, |c 2023, c2022. | |
300 | |a xiv, 571 pages : |b illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white) ; |c 21 cm | ||
336 | |a text |b txt |2 rdacontent | ||
336 | |a still image |b sti |2 rdacontent | ||
336 | |a cartographic image |b cri |2 rdacontent | ||
337 | |a unmediated |2 rdamedia | ||
338 | |a volume |2 rdacarrier | ||
386 | |a Men |2 lcdgt | ||
386 | |a History teachers |2 lcdgt | ||
386 | |a University and college faculty members |2 lcdgt | ||
386 | |a English |2 lcdgt | ||
504 | |a Includes bibliographical references (pages [467]-538) and index. | ||
505 | 0 | 0 | |t Introduction : The myth of colonial America -- |g Part One: |t The dawn of the indigenous continent (the first seventy millennia) -- |t The world on the turtle's back -- |t The egalitarian continent -- |t Blind conquests -- |g Part Two: |t Appear at a distance like giants (the long sixteenth century) -- |t Terra nullius -- |t The Powhatan empire -- |t Wars at the water's edge -- |t The Pequots shall no more be called Pequots -- |g Part Three: |t The conquest for the great American interior (early and mid-seventeenth century) -- |t The rise of the five nations league -- |t Enemies of the faith -- |t The power of weakness -- |g Part Four: |t The indigenous backlash (late seventeenth century) -- |t The English as a little child -- |t Metacom's challenge -- |t Virginia's civil and uncivil wars -- |t The great southwestern rebellion -- |g Part Five: |t The enduring indigenous continent (early eighteenth century) -- |t Holding the line -- |t They smelled like alligators -- |t An infinity of rancherías -- |g Part Six: |t The heart of the continent (mid- and late eighteenth century) -- |t Magic dogs -- |t Wars to the end of the world -- |t British America besieged -- |t Worldly and otherworldly wars of independence -- |t A second Chinese wall -- |g Part Seven: |t American revolutions (late eighteenth to early nineteenth century) -- |t The American crucible -- |t Western promises -- |t The white devil with his mouth wide open -- |g Part Eight: |t The age of equestrian empires (nineteenth century) -- |t The long removal era -- |t The Comanche ascendancy -- |t The Lakota shield -- |t Epilogue : Revenge and revival. |
520 | |a There is an old, deeply rooted story about America that goes like this: Columbus "discovers" a strange continent and brings back tales of untold riches. The European empires rush over, eager to stake out as much of this astonishing "New World" as possible. Though Indigenous peoples fight back, they cannot stop the onslaught. White imperialists are destined to rule the continent, and history is an irreversible march toward Indigenous destruction. Yet as with other long-accepted origin stories, this one, too, turns out to be based in myth and distortion. In Indigenous Continent, acclaimed historian Pekka Hämäläinen presents a sweeping counternarrative that shatters the most basic assumptions about American history. Shifting our perspective away from Jamestown, Plymouth Rock, the Revolution, and other well-trodden episodes on the conventional timeline, he depicts a sovereign world of Native nations whose members, far from helpless victims of colonial violence, dominated the continent for centuries after the first European arrivals. From the Iroquois in the Northeast to the Comanches on the Plains, and from the Pueblos in the Southwest to the Cherokees in the Southeast, Native nations frequently decimated white newcomers in battle. Even as the white population exploded and colonists' land greed grew more extravagant, Indigenous peoples flourished due to sophisticated diplomacy and leadership structures. By 1776, various colonial powers claimed nearly all of the continent, but Indigenous peoples still controlled it--as Hämäläinen points out, the maps in modern textbooks that paint much of North America in neat, color-coded blocks confuse outlandish imperial boasts for actual holdings. In fact, Native power peaked in the late nineteenth century, with the Lakota victory in 1876 at Little Big Horn, which was not an American blunder, but an all-too-expected outcome. Hämäläinen ultimately contends that the very notion of "colonial America" is misleading, and that we should speak instead of an "Indigenous America" that was only slowly and unevenly becoming colonial. The evidence of Indigenous defiance is apparent today in the hundreds of Native nations that still dot the United States and Canada. Necessary reading for anyone who cares about America's past, present, and future, Indigenous Continent restores Native peoples to their rightful place at the very fulcrum of American history. | ||
650 | 0 | |a Indigenous peoples |z North America |x History. | |
650 | 0 | |a Indigenous peoples |z North America |x Government relations |y 1789-1869. | |
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