Nonfiction Navigators discussion

A History of Resilience



A story that every American needs to know, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz retells the typical Anglo-American triumphant story of the greatest country in the world from an Indigenous perspective in a realistic telling of U.S. history in her book An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States.

Dunbar-Ortiz begins her book as most U.S. history textbooks begin: with a description of the First peoples and their lifestyles prior to European contact. Yet, unlike most textbooks which spare the readers of the knowledge of how advanced these complex civilizations that existed previously to colonization actually were, Dunbar-Ortiz details the technologies and societal orders these civilizations relied on denouncing the misconceived notion that the Europeans were saviors bringing civilization and resources to the Indigenous populations. The longevity of this idea of white supremacy and saviorism within the United States is stated numerous times in the book making the reader take a necessary second look at their view on U.S. expansionism. Examining each section of North America as well as South America, each Indigenous nation described in the book is described as a valid civilization with cultural and societal practices necessary to their survival again further spotlighting the outdated belief of white superiority.

Following the chronological nature of history, Dunbar-Ortiz not only recounts the “discovery” of America but offers the world powers’ prior colonization before arriving to the new world to explain the brutal treatment of the Native peoples upon the arrival of the European settlers. A deep-dive into the Christian Crusades against the Muslims, the transformation of common lands to privatized lands in England, and the search for gold led by Columbus explains the European settlers’ justification for their conquest for money and land.

Throughout the whole book, the belief in American exceptionalism that “has been used to justify appropriation of the continent and then domination of the rest of the world” is dissected and disproven (Dunbar-Ortiz 47). Dunbar-Ortiz shares the real truth on the foundation of the United States: a greedy grab for land through genocide. Citing the numerous massacres and brutal attacks caused by white settlers, the view of America as a land built on hard work and a dedicated population is dismantled and replaced by the correct understanding of the founding settlers as genocidal maniacs.

Dunbar-Ortiz does not spare the gory details of the past injustices inflicted onto the Indigenous peoples by settlers. The inhumanity of fulfilling Manifest Destiny is described numerous times with stories of the killing innocent Indigenous lives by the U.S. army through unethical tactics, the firsthand accounts of generals calling for the extermination of Indigenous populations, and the description of the atrocities caused by “the genocidal sociopath Andrew Jackson” (Dunbar-Ortiz 94). Other significant historical figures who earned their fame through the quest to move west are rightfully thrown to the dogs as the untold savagery of their pursuit for land is told. Burning villages full of innocent people, massacring women and children, and taking body parts as trophies, the accurate depiction of the presidents and generals still memorialized by the American public today is revealed to the readers.

Though most of the book focuses on the wars against the Indigenous nations and the approval of these acts of injustice still felt in current American society, Dunbar-Ortiz recounts the Indigenous movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s, the U.S. policy shrinking the landholdings of Native nations, and the connection between the wars of western expansion and the wars abroad with U.S. involvement to convey that Indigenous peoples still face countless restraints to their wellbeing outside of the nineteenth century. Ending on a slightly optimistic note, though, the story of the international Indigenous community coming together as one to fight for their sovereignty and rights as nations at the United Nations is told as a reminder of the resilience and strength of these nations in war for centuries with the inhabitants of their land.

Be prepared for a difficult to stomach read on the true history of the United States, a history of repetitive attempts to eliminate a resilient population through brutality and greed. But, don’t be offput by the gruesome imagery; the importance of the history of Indigenous peoples told through Dunbar-Ortiz’s narration far exceeds the uneasiness felt by reading the atrocities inflicted on the rightful owners of the American land.