Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States: A Graphic Interpretation

ReVisioning American History #8

by Paul Peart-Smith

In stunning full color and accessible text, a graphic adaptation of the American Book Award winning history of the United States as told from the perspective of Indigenous peoples—perfect for readers of all ages

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s influential New York Times bestseller exposed the brutality of this nation’s founding and its legacy of settler-colonialism and genocide. Through evocative full color artwork, renowned cartoonist Paul Peart-Smith brings this watershed book to life, centering the perspective of the peoples displaced by Europeans and their white descendants to trace Indigenous perseverance over four centuries against policies intended to obliterate them.

Recognized for his adaptation of W.E.B. DuBois’ The Souls of Black Folk and his extensive expertise in the comics industry, Peart-Smith collaborates with experienced graphic novel editor Paul Buhle to provide an accessible introduction to a complex history that will attract new generations of readers of all ages. This striking graphic adaptation will rekindle crucial conversations about the centuries-long genocidal program of the US settler-colonial regime that has largely been omitted from history.

Genres: Graphic Novels, History, Nonfiction, Indigenous, Comics, American History, Native American

116 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2024

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before proceeding with a review of this graphic novel adaptation, I think it has to be noted that at the time of the original book's publication in 2014, author Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz was claiming to have Native American heritage. In a 2021 interview on C-Span (do a find-in-page search for "Cherokee"), Dunbar-Ortiz recanted this claim and admits to having no such heritage.

Ahem. Well. That aside . . .

Dunbar-Ortiz challenges us to follow the money as the United States government repeatedly uses genocide, forced relocation, and treaty violations in its attempts to destroy, oppress, and disappear the indigenous people of North America as part of the greatest land-grab in world history. The American mythology of exceptionalism, Manifest Destiny, and white supremacy all play their part, smoothed along by their European predecessor, the Doctrine of Discovery.

It's a horrifying and enlightening perspective.


FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Introduction -- Chapter 1. Follow the Corn -- Chapter 2. The Promised Land -- Chapter 3. The White Republic -- Chapter 4. Indian Country -- Chapter 5. From Discovery to Sovereignty -- Acknowledgments

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I'm sure it's more accessible than the original text, it was still a lot of information. One thing that made it more difficult to read was the many CAPITALIZED words throughout the book. But overall a heartbreaking and in-depth history.

[Kristi Hovington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent graphic novel adaptation of the original text, accessible for anyone, and absolutely horrifying history of Europe and the US’s genocide, forced relocation, and systematic disenfranchisement of indigenous peoples in north and Central America. I saw this book in a middle school classroom I was teaching in - it’s a student text- and asked to borrow it. I can’t wait to speak to the teacher to see how the middle schoolers think about this; this adaptation is still quite dense with names, dates, treaties, etc. The first section of this book gives a brilliant account of the lives and systems of government and commerce of the indigenous people pre colonization.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

While obviously not as in-depth as the OG book, this is a fantastic text to get younger readers to learn more about Indigenous history.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been interested in learning more about Indigenous histories in the US since that's geographically close to me and most of what I know of Indigenous history veers more Canada based since I'm in Canada myself. I figured a graphic adaptation of a well known history was a good place to start. I honestly was a lot more familiar with most of it than I anticipated. I think it being so short (about 120 pages) is a major factor there. That said, it's a really interesting primer on the subject, it contextualises a lot of information I had already, and there were still bits here and there that were new to me. I wasn't keen on the lettering (a lot of words are capitalised in ways that don't make sense after I had initially assumed that it was for emphasis. I did really enjoy the art though, and despite the distraction of the capitalisation, I did think the lettering was clear and easy to read and follow along with.

Overall, I think this is an interesting and necessary book for anyone who wants an overview primer on the history of Indigenous peoples in the place now known as the United States. It ultimately made me want to read something a little longer or more focused to get more information. It's well worth the read for anyone just starting out in their learning, but it's also a solid refresher for those who already have knowledge under their belts.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well . . . What do you do with this one? Four years ago indigenous peoples scholar, writer, and activist, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, was proven to be a fraud who claimed Cherokee ancestry that she didn’t have.

And yet . . . Her academic work is still worth reading.

This graphic interpretation by Paul Peart-Smith juxtaposes the facts of history’s greatest land grab with beautiful painted images. There a ton of facts crammed into this short book.

I look forward to using a few pages with my middle school students next year.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the prose version of this, but the history is so long and important that it’s always good to reread as much as I can on repressed histories of genocide. So when I saw this was in graphic novel format, I snatched it up. It’s excellent for those who like imagery with our history learned. Beautiful illustrations, easy to read, heartbreaking, true, and well condensed. Explains the politics and propaganda well. The US denial of this is still pretty astounding to me to this day.

[Molly Lazer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent graphic novel, full of facts that I never knew or even considered before. I learned a lot by reading it. It would be a good complement to history classrooms.

[Jennifer Abella · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Ed Erwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Impossible to tell such a long, complicated story in such a short book. But I guess this could serve as a little introduction for some.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this book packs a punch. I'm kind of speechless. It's not that I didn't know all this, but it is something to confront, in painstaking detail and vivid color, the year-by-year thefts and massacres and avarice that is the founding and development of the US, far into the 20th century. It's really well done, very readable (eminently!), and somehow still full of hope and imagination.

And, yeah, it makes you think about empire and colonization not just in the US. Specifically: "While living persons are not responsible for what their ancestors did, they are responsible for the society they live in, which is a product of the past... For the future to be realized, it will require extensive educational programs and the full support and active participation of the descendants of settlers, enslaved Africans, and colonized Mexicans, as well as immigrant populations... In the process, the continent will be radically reconfigured, physically and psychologically."

[Shivangi · Rating 4 out of 5]

shiv rating: a very respectable 3 stars!

I learned so much in this book. things I didn’t know:
- there were 100 million people in the americas at the time there were only 50 million in europe??? and yet narratives try to pretend the americas were nearly empty and ripe for the taking
- certain indigenous groups joined the confederacy during the civil war
- 10,000 freed slaves, indigenous people, and white farmers formed a muti ethnic guerilla army which unofficially fought with the union
- the indigenous nations tried SO hard to stop their homes from getting stolen. they protested, they organized, they fought, they peacefully protested, they agreed to treaties which were just constantly broken. like they literally did everything they could it makes you feel so bad for them
- manifest destiny is bulllllshit. duh.
- the death rate for andrew Jackson’s trail of tears was 50%??! remove that man from the $20 bill immediately.
- Bro like this stuff is more recent than you think, they literally took Indigenous lands in 1907 to form Oklahoma. Thats only freaking 7 years before WWI!!!


My one complaint is that I wish the book was less biased. It’s rightfully very biased towards indigenous nations, but sometimes it feels like the author almost concealed the full story to paint the narrative one way. Which like, the indigenous peoples are ALREADY the good guys- you don’t have to paint them as the perfect victims to get us to support you. For instance, they kind of almost pretended scalping was exclusively done by white settlers, which like bffrn. They also said 2 million square miles of indigenous lands passed to the US gov, some through treaties but also through the breach of standing treaties. Like, tell me how big of a problem that was!! Was it just like 2% of the land was acquired by breaching treaties, or was it more like 70%?!

[Keisha Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graphic novel version of indigenous peoples' history of the united states by Dunbar-Ortiz. Should note the author has come under fire for falsely claiming native heritage (could be she was lied to about her history. too lazy to read the entire backstory about that). Her book itself, along with decades of activisim for indigenous people in the US is still well regarded.

Lot of information packed into a small book. Brightly coloured, simply explained. Main issue with it visually is the random CAPITALIZATIONS of certain WORDS. Seems to be a thing with all the graphic novels ive read recently. Hella distracting.

Covers major history points Ive heard of- pre colombus society and popluation levels, wounded knee massacre, trail of tears- and gave more detail. Covered many other battles, resistance, broken treaties I had no previous knowledge of .

Didn't realize a supreme court judge ruled against president andrew jackson and in favour of the cherokee nation constitution and laws. Jackson of course, ignored the ruling.

The book does have a strong bias to make indigenous people the perfectly innocent victim. Women from xyz nations hardly participated in politics (the nations are incredibly sexist and women had few rights), only a very tiny minority owned slaves (several nations owned slaves, supported slavery, and fought for the confederacy), their government was based on consensus not majority rule (only for those with power to vote. and if you vote wrong you can be exiled?)

They suffered near constant warfare, disease, violence, persecution, genocide. Lying isn't necessary.

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel, though it might seem short, is packed with rich information crucial to understanding history, outside of the "victor's" perspective. I put that in quotes because there is no victory in the genocide of entire peoples and their nations, the near extinction of their food sources, the use of biowarfare, wrongful imprisonment, cultural erasure, and making treaties that were as useful as a screen door on a submarine. Growing up, I was fed whitewashed lies. I remember making construction-paper headdresses for Thanksgiving plays in school, with the Pilgrims and Indians narrative being the only one told (an outdated term that further highlights the disconnect and disrespect of the times). A lot of the information in this book wasn’t new to me, but seeing it brought to life added to the understanding of the history we’ve been conditioned to ignore. I didn't know about the Seminole Wars and the Seminole people before; I found that part fascinating and plan to branch out and find a book that dives deeper into it. I’d recommend this to anyone looking to better understand the untold and uncomfortable truths of America’s past, vividly brought to life through Paul's illustrations.

[Sarah Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do have my own critique of the book, but I overall learned something new and it provided more context to some history that I know. I was not a fan of the art style and the section on how the indigenous justice systems and government worked before colonialism was a bit confusing. I would've much preferred if they broke the different systems by tribe, or stated which ones certain systems applied to. That being said, it was very enlightening seeing how different types of disenfranchisement lead Native Americans to be more susceptible to diseases and how Abraham Lincoln's campaign relied on people wanting to settle the Western frontier and how the Union antagonized Native communities during the Civil War. It made me better understand why Native Americans were more likely to die from foreign diseases and why Abraham Lincoln is not a well-liked president to Native Americans (to put it lightly).

[Lindsay (I'm on StoryGraph) · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The historical record is CLEAR. European colonists shoved aside a large network of small and large nations whose GOVERNMENTS, COMMERCE, ARTS, and SCIENCES, AGRICULTURE, TECHNOLOGIES, THEOLOGIES, PHILOSOPHIES, and INSTITUTIONS were intricately developed nations that maintained sophisticated relations with one another and with the environments that SUPPORTED them."

"Land-poor white rural people saw (Andrew) Jackson as the man who would SAVE them, making land available to them by RIDDING it of Indians, thereby setting the pattern of the DANCE between poor and rich US Americans ever since, under the GUISE of equality of OPPURTUNITY."

"The future will not be mad with LOSS and WASTE though the memory will be there: EYES WILL BECOME KIND AND DEEP, AND THE BONES OF THIS NATIONWILL MEND AFTER THE REVOLUTION."

[Susan Haines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes a graphic novel is able to distill a complicated history to make it easier to understand. The sacrifice is in losing details and probably truth in order to bring the concept to a wider audience. When I read this book of atrocities committed by our country against its people I kept thinking I needed to know more about each story. (They pretty much all have to do with the US government lying, stealing, and murdering and then rewriting the stories to sound like heroes.) So I think I’ll probably end up reading Dunbar’s more comprehensive works so that I don’t feel like I just absorbed a long list of cookie-cutter tragedies. I feel like individuals and timelines/locations need to be better fleshed out for me to have a more complete understanding of what happened. The illustrations are really good; they fit the tone of the book well. I’d like to look for the artist’s other works.

[Xanthe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and full of history that I certainly didn't completely know. I've been meaning to read the original source material for years, so I snapped up the graphic novel adaptation. Spanning pre-European colonization history of the continent, this book establishes the complexity of the indigenous societies that existed for centuries and then how the waves of European targeted attacks destroyed their structures and people. Since this a graphic novel adaptation of a much longer work, I could tell that some topics were streamlined and simplified for this format, which means that I definitely still want to read the original book. But meanwhile, this is a worthy and important resources that is highly accessible.

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best guide I have ever read as someone who wanted a comprehensive understanding of the history of Native Americans in the United States, and told in a way that was easier for me to extrapolate & understand, in an engaging way, and delivered with brutal honesty, but also in a more accessible format. I don't normally like comic books even though I love the stories, and the main reason for that is formatting. I find it difficult to read/move through a text in this way. But this particular graphic novel was tremendous and detailed without overwhelming the reader. If someone is looking for a place to start or doesn't know where to begin with wanting to learn more about these histories, I would highly recommend this book.

[William Hume · Rating 5 out of 5]

The "Indigenous People's History of the United States provides an excellent overview of the government's (both U.S. and governments pre-dating the U.S.) dealings with the native peoples of North America. As one would expect, most of the topics covered detail horrendous treatment at the hands of the infringing powers. While reading this book, I could not help but think of the lines, "Studying history will sometimes disturb you. Studying history will sometimes upset you. Studying history will sometimes make you furious. If studying history always makes you feel proud and happy, you probably aren't studying history." In these times when a great number of people seek to whitewash our past, I am even more grateful for resources like this.

[Rebecca Saunders · Rating 4 out of 5]

As others have mentioned - this is an easily accessible review of / introduction to Native American history. What I found most helpful was the way it explained ideology of Settler Colonialism. While I was familiar with some historical events, this story helped me understand how the events were all undergirded by the same economic/religious/political philosophy. It's a short but emotionally heavy read.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is just beginning to learn about Native American history or who is trying to get a big-picture view without having to read a longer more academic tome.

*prior to reading these reviews I didn't know about the controversy around Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, so if someone can recommend a similar book by a Native author - I will check it out.

[Lizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK read but maybe a bit much for a graphic novel. Info dense and wordy with muddy art that doesn’t always stick out much between the large text panels. Zigzags between topics. Important info for sure but not sure if the format will be the kick in the pants it needs to be for people not already familiar with this part of history. It does a good job of painting a unified picture of Indigenous people in the US, but doesn’t do a lot to highlight the different cultures. It also ends somewhat abruptly and post 1970s history is somewhat rushed and brief.

[Maria-Veronica Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding!!! Not surprised. The breath of 500 years of history is successfully condensed in this work. Whereas admittedly the level of detail required to weave a story that has been retold by the perpetrator and that relies on deeply accepted myths is hard to achieve in a short graphic novel, this definitely opens the doors for a continuation in the search for the true origin of this nation and the solidification of its power. Who is this nation anyway?

[kaitlphere · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a whole lot of history in this book that is presented efficiently in graphic novel form. I appreciated the bredth of the history included. While the book focuses on the area of the modern US, indigenous populations elsewhere were also touched on. The history also includes what indigenous lifestyles were like before the colonists arrived.

The art style complemented the topic well, with rough sketch-style art and a mid-tone dusty color scheme.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always wanted to read the novel but this was a great overview. It should be required reading in school. I went to a Native Hawaiian school and we were taught the accurate violent and imperialist history of Europeans' and Americans' detrimental effects on Polynesia. It's hard not to be infuriated while reading this. Very well put together, powerful messages and perfect narration of a complex history. Illustrations are detailed and evoke the pain and beauty of the Indigenous people.

[Kappy · Rating 4 out of 5]

the Author' perspective was not taught in US history classes during my education many years ago. I appreciate the perspective that I never considered.

The controversy over the authors' ancestral claim is disconcerting. That said, do you negate the message because the author misrepresented themselves? I say no.
this is a graphic novel based on the authors' earlier tome. the graphics are mostly clear, with some faded & some dark as appropriate.

[Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

(copy and paste from storygraph)

Before I start this review I must admit I have not read the original version YET. So I can't really say anything about how effective of an adaptation it is. However, it was an incredibly enlightening read and easy to understand. Paul Peart-Smith's illustrations perfectly capture the harsh reality of the indigenous perspective with his rough linework and watercolors. I think this will be a good starting point to learn about this history :)
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[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

“While living persons are not responsible for what their ancestors did, they ARE responsible for the society they live in, which is a product of that past.”

Beautifully illustrated and adapted. I appreciated that specific historic figures are introduced and allowed to voice events rather than using pure description. I am eager to use this book for displays.

[Stephanie Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book did a great job discussing history from a view other than white male’s views (as we so often see through history). They write about events that took place, and then they discuss how the event was flipped or changed to make the invaders/settlers/Europeans were heroes and were doing great work. The art throughout the book was a nice addition as well.

[Peacegal · Rating 5 out of 5]

No matter how much you think you know, this book will shake some of your foundational beliefs about American history. It's amazing how many generalizations and stereotypes we've all absorbed about the indigenous peoples of this continent; much of it as a result of popular entertainment, whether we realize it or not.

This is one of those books I would recommend to all readers.