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Summary: The best book I have read about American Indian history
Review: "American Holocaust" is not for the squeamish, or those who believe that the attempts to commit genocide of the indigenous peoples of the Americas are a thing of the past. Mr. Stannard makes use of a mountain of research to point out not only the atrocities of the past, but connects them with the continuing beliefs of the Euro-Americans who colonized the New World. Mr. Stannard also successfully links the attempts to solve the "Indian Problem" to another person who tried to solve his own ethnic conundrum--Adolf Hitler, who took the idea of Indian reservations to horrific new levels with the concentration camps. If you have ever wondered why one group of people wish to exterminate another, you need to read this book. It will set your notions of "Christian" behavior on its ear.
Rating:
Summary: The best book I have read about American Indian history
Review: "American Holocaust" is not for the squeamish, or those who believe that the attempts to commit genocide of the indigenous peoples of the Americas are a thing of the past. Mr. Stannard makes use of a mountain of research to point out not only the atrocities of the past, but connects them with the continuing beliefs of the Euro-Americans who colonized the New World. Mr. Stannard also successfully links the attempts to solve the "Indian Problem" to another person who tried to solve his own ethnic conundrum--Adolf Hitler, who took the idea of Indian reservations to horrific new levels with the concentration camps. If you have ever wondered why one group of people wish to exterminate another, you need to read this book. It will set your notions of "Christian" behavior on its ear.
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Summary: It has freed me from nationalist impulses.
Review: A difficult work to read, because it is so horrifying. It shows that our forebears not only had feet of clay, but that clay is blood and bones of indigenes. No longer need I regret not living now where my ancestors trod, perhaps two centuries ago, because the land they trod then was not theirs, and likely had been taken by force, misadventure or trick from the commons of "native Americans."
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Summary: GREAT BOOK
Review: A great books that provides a non-Eurocentric viewpoint of history. Whites may not be able to handle it because they are used to hearing history that romanticizes their savage race.
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Summary: Finally The Truth Is explaineed
Review: After decades of being taught lies, David Stannard explains in horrific detail on how Columbus and western europeans committed the worst crime on humanity ever.He also explains how the indegenous peoples of the americas live prior to the columbus invasion; which erases the sterotype that the Spanish came to "civilze" the indian.
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Summary: overwhelming in its implications
Review: Along with Native American activist Ward Churchill, David Stannard stands at the forefront of the intellectual movement to elucidate the truth concerning America's (and Canada's) past and present treatment of Native Americans. Scholastic and readable, "American Holocaust" overwhelms readers with its devastating implications: not only has the North American population not come to grips with the reality of its brutal and genocidal heritage, the "American Holocaust"is an ongoing event. I also highly recommend Theodore Roosevelt's "The Winning of the West" as supplemental reading to Stannard"s "American Holocaust" - it helps put events in perspective.
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Summary: Essential Reading in Early American History
Review: American Holocaust is very well-written and tightly organized book. Stannard's scope of investigation is laudable, as he moves from ancient Greece, to medieval Europe, to the Americas. In pulling information from such a wide variety of sources, he makes a wonderfully complex yet cogent argument about the nature of the colonization of the Americas and the genocide that it required. Not dealing with simple historical facts, Stannard delves into the development of the European psyche and how this conditioned the first and subsequent contacts with the native peoples of the Americas. American Holocaust is truly a stunning work that I wish all people in this Hemisphere would read.
Rating:
Summary: Essential Reading in Early American History
Review: American Holocaust is very well-written and tightly organized book. Stannard's scope of investigation is laudable, as he moves from ancient Greece, to medieval Europe, to the Americas. In pulling information from such a wide variety of sources, he makes a wonderfully complex yet cogent argument about the nature of the colonization of the Americas and the genocide that it required. Not dealing with simple historical facts, Stannard delves into the development of the European psyche and how this conditioned the first and subsequent contacts with the native peoples of the Americas. American Holocaust is truly a stunning work that I wish all people in this Hemisphere would read.
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Summary: Utter garbage
Review: David Stannard could be -- could be? IS -- the poster boy for that species of Sixties Tenured-Radical idiocy called White Liberal Guilt. If you loved Dances with Wolves, have a "dream catcher" hanging on your wall, and generally believe that the American Indians were the first environmentalists, holistic healers, socialists, communards, etc., then this book is for you, and it will also provide plenty of "evidence" that that blue-eyed demon, the White European male, has perpetuated nothing but evil and murder while striding across the stage historical. Only problem is, 'taint true. As another reader astutely noted, disease, not the violence of the Spainiards, French or English, accounted for most Native American deaths in the "New" World. Plus there's this issue of the cruelties practiced by Europeans against Native populations. Yeah, the Spainiards were vicious in their warfighting -- but Stannard, for all his righteous bluster, seems utterly ignorant that Europeans practiced this same form of warfare (dogs, gibbets, tortures) against each other and against their own populations (See Goya's "Horrors of War" if you don't believe me). He also completely disregards all facts concerning Native American torture and subjagation, up to complete eradication, of other Native American tribes. Ever read about what the Iroqouis did to captured Frenchmen, Dr Stannard? Or to the Huron? Why did Native American tribes seek alliances with Europeans, as well as European weapons? So they could wipe out enemy tribes. If you want to apply the world "holocaust" to the "New" World, better make it clear that the native Americans practiced it against one another as well. This book, in short, is comptemptible swill. It belongs, if not in the trash can, on the shelf with the works of David Irving, the "historian" who indicted America and England for the bad things they did to Germany when it was led by a certain Austrian demagogue midway through the last century.
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Summary: Only gives the Indians side of the story
Review: Don't get me wrong, I am certain that many innocent Indians have been killed over the years just because they were Indians. This book however is ridiculious. It has nothing positive to say about any whites (except for maybe Las Casas) and is willing to write off true American heroes such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Teddy Roosevelt as "Nazis". The quote from Teddy Roosevelt (as well as probably dozens more throughout the book are at best rumors but are presented here as facts). The author is far too quick to dismiss pre-1492 Indian Wars, the Human sacrifice of the Aztecs, and especially Indian kidnapping of white children, which is basically portrayed in this book as a completely positive thing. The British&the Americans DID have their own Las Casas, not just one but many of them. The British also did try to convert Indians to Christianity as did the Americans, contrary to statements in this book. Diseases may have killed many Indians but most of these Indians had never even SEEN the Europeans. Also many Europeans did in fact DIE from these diseases. If you want to read a true account of the Indian genocide (it is NOT a Holocaust) pick up James Loewen's excellent work "Lies My Teacher Told Me"
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