An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States

state based on the ideology of white supremacy, the widespread practice of African slavery, and a policy of genocide and land theft. Those who seek history with an upbeat ending, a history of redemption and reconciliation, may look around and observe that such a conclusion is not visible, not even in utopian dreams of a better society.
 
Writing US history from an Indigenous peoples perspective requires rethinking the consensual national narrative. That narrative is wrong or deficient, not in its facts, dates, or details but rather in its essence. Inherent in the myth we ve been taught is an embrace of settler colonialism and genocide. The myth persists, not for a lack of free speech or poverty of information but rather for an absence of motivation to ask questions that challenge the core of the scripted narrative of the origin story. How might acknowledging the reality of US history work to transform society? That is the central question this book pursues.
 
Teaching Native American studies, I always begin with a simple exercise. I ask students to quickly draw a rough outline of the United States at the time it gained independence from Britain. Invariably most draw the approximate present shape of the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific the continental territory not fully appropriated until a century after independence. What became independent in 1783 were the thirteen British colonies hugging the Atlantic shore. When called on this, students are embarrassed because they know better. I assure them that they are not alone. I call this a Rorschach test of unconscious manifest destiny, embedded in the minds of nearly everyone in the United States and around the world. This test reflects the seeming inevit

Veronica E. Velarde Tiller, PhD, Jicarilla Apache author, historian, and publisher of Tiller s Guide to Indian Country

This may well be the most important US history book you will read in your lifetime. . . . Dunbar-Ortiz radically reframes US history, destroying all foundation myths to reveal a brutal settler-colonial structure and ideology designed to cover its bloody tracks.  Here, rendered in honest, often poetic words, is the story of those tracks and the people who survived bloodied but unbowed. Spoiler alert: the colonial era is still here, and so are the Indians.
Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams
 
Dunbar Ortiz s . . . assessment and conclusions are necessary tools for all Indigenous peoples seeking to address and remedy the legacy of US colonial domination that continues to subvert Indigenous human rights in today s globalized world.
Mililani B. Trask, Native Hawai ian international law expert on Indigenous peoples rights and former Kia Aina  (prime minister) of  Ka La Hui Hawai i 
 
An Indigenous Peoples History of the United States provides an essential historical reference for all Americans. . . . The American Indians perspective has been absent from colonial histories for too long, leaving continued misunderstandings of our struggles for sovereignty and human rights.
Peterson Zah, former president of the Navajo Nation
 
An Indigenous Peoples History . . . pulls up the paving stones and lays bare the deep history of the United States, from the corn to the reservations. If the United States is a crime scene, as she calls it, then Dunbar-Ortiz is its forensic scientist. A sobering look at a grave history.
Vijay Prashad, author of Public Enemy
 
Justice-seekers everywhere will celebrate Dunbar-Ortiz s unflinching commitment to truth a truth that places settler-colonialism and genocide exactly where they belong: as foundational to the existence of the United States.
Waziyatawin, PhD, activist and author of For Indigenous Minds Only

Dunbar-Ortiz strips us of our forged innocence, shocks us into new awarenesses, and draws a straight line from the sins of our fathers settler-colonialism, the doctrine of discovery, the myth of manifest destiny, white supremacy, theft and systematic killing to the contemporary condition of permanent war, invasion and occupation, mass incarceration, and the constant use and threat of state violence. Bill Ayers

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz s Indigenous Peoples History of the United States is a fiercely honest, unwavering, and unprecedented statement, one which has never been attempted by any other historian or intellectual. The presentation of facts and arguments is clear and direct, unadorned by needless and pointless rhetoric, and there is an organic feel of intellectual solidity that provides weight and trust. It is truly an Indigenous peoples voice that gives Dunbar-Ortiz s book direction, purpose, and trustworthy intention. Without doubt, this crucially important book is required reading for everyone in the Americas!
Simon J. Ortiz, Regents Professor of English and American Indian Studies, Arizona State University
 
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz writes a masterful story that relates what the Indigenous peoples of the United States have always maintained: Against the settler U.S. nation, Indigenous peoples have persevered against actions and policies intended to exterminate them, whether physically, mentally, or intellectually. Indigenous nations and their people continue to bear witness to their experiences under the U.S. and demand justice as well as the realization of sovereignty on their own terms.
Jennifer Nez Denetdale, Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico and author of Reclaiming Diné History