Savages and Scoundrels: The Untold Story of Americas Road to Empire through Indian Territory: The Gr

Savages and Scoundrels: The Untold Story of America's Road to Empire through across the entire continent, inexorably claiming Native American lands for.
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I thought it would be about the frontier, but it starts with a family in the s whose home is relocated, along with many others. Then goes back and forth between the legal history on which treaty law was based, and how - while it was completely illegal - Indian land was seized again. For a while it is like jumping back and forth between two different books, and then it begins to feel more unified, while also becoming more sickening and tragic. Although a The book initially set me off balance. Although at times the verbiage gets a bit thick, ultimately this does explain a lot of how the present conditions came to be.

Even when you had people with more honorable intentions, another election could change that, and people on local levels or state levels were often really comfortable with disregarding federal law. A lot of that can be simply explained by deciding that people are horrible and greedy and will justify anything, which is not exactly untrue, but it can be instructive seeing how it happens.


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I understand some of the things that seemed contradictory about Thomas Jefferson better now. FYI, that didn't resolve in his favor. Sep 15, Kurt rated it liked it. He has made us the master organizers of the world to establish system where chaos reigns Were it not for such a force as this the world would relapse into barbarism and night. And of all our race, He has marked the American people as His chose nation to finally lead in the regeneration of the world. This is the divine mission "God has not been preparing the English-speaking and Teutonic peoples for a thousand years for nothing but vain and idle self-contemplation and self-admiration This is the divine mission of America, and it holds for us all the profit, all the glory, all the happiness possible to man.

And thus we find Native Americans not doing so well.

Savages and Scoundrels: The Untold Story of America's Road to Empire through Indian Territory

Feb 01, Joel rated it liked it Shelves: Good book about how we screwed the Indians. I learned new things there's so much to learn about this history. Some of the more interesting to me was how the water "development" projects planned and authorized in the s and 40s had devastating effects on tribes as they were built in the 50s and 60s. The section on The Great Smoke in , where at a giant conference on the prairie most of the Plains Tribes reached an agreement with the US to allow settlers to pass through while protecting th Good book about how we screwed the Indians. The section on The Great Smoke in , where at a giant conference on the prairie most of the Plains Tribes reached an agreement with the US to allow settlers to pass through while protecting the Tribes interests, was fascinating.

Of course the US didn't hold up it's end of the bargain and eventually forced new "treaties" on the Tribes that took most of their land. Jul 12, Paul Vandevelder rated it it was amazing. Paul Vandevelder's book represents towering work, and stands in the proud and immense line of revisionist historical journalism. The United States comes alive in these compelling and lucid pages, not shrouded in blase myth and superficial evasion that characterizes professional or academic history. This is our inheritance, most decidedly for worse, the "will to empire" that stands revealed in the genocide of peoples then, and in military and economic devastation now.

This is history of political Paul Vandevelder's book represents towering work, and stands in the proud and immense line of revisionist historical journalism. This is history of political forces owning a culture, written as if our reading lives were thirsting for truth, not jargon or "balance. Jan 07, Cathryn rated it it was amazing. A completely different history of the westward expansion, tracing the ongoing trail of broken treaties and land grabs from the Indians back to medieval decrees about the rights of natives in lands 'discovered' by Europeans and also to debates among our founding fathers about Indian rights, land ownership and trust obligations.


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  6. Unknown to me - the views of Thomas Jefferson about states rights overriding federal protections of and treaties with the Indians. I just felt that the book lacked a littl A completely different history of the westward expansion, tracing the ongoing trail of broken treaties and land grabs from the Indians back to medieval decrees about the rights of natives in lands 'discovered' by Europeans and also to debates among our founding fathers about Indian rights, land ownership and trust obligations.

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    I just felt that the book lacked a little cohesiveness in drawing in the more contemporary story of land takings. Jul 02, Benjamin rated it did not like it Shelves: I felt swindled by this book's title. Nothing quite seemed untold. The author traced the legal theories underpinning the decisions that allowed the United States to forcibly conquer North American land in a quest for empire.

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    Yet, I didn't feel that he really explained how it was that those legal theories were selected within the context of the young America. The connection between an available legal theory and its use wasn't really developed. Plus, the book was disjointed and the ideas seemed pr I felt swindled by this book's title. Plus, the book was disjointed and the ideas seemed presented in a random order. Sep 30, Tessa rated it liked it Shelves: Some parts, like chapter 5, were incredibly interesting. However, other parts, like the beginning of chapter 3, were so dense and information packed that you couldn't make sense of it.

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    It didn't help that Mr. VanDevelder loves run on sentences more than he wants you to understand what he's saying. I would have liked it more if I didn't have to dissect your sentences just to get a basic sense of what you're trying to say Mr. This isn't anatomy lab, it's a book. Sep 13, Olivia Waite rated it it was amazing Shelves: Harrowing, thorough, and urgent. Makes Jefferson look like a tyrant, Washington a prophet, and Nixon a voice of moral courage. Jun 28, C and C Lee rated it it was ok Shelves: