A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas, 1492 to the Present

Rating:
Summary: The essence of hatred
Review: Ward Churchill has written an important and expansive overview on genocide and how it relates to, especially, the "settler's" policy on native peoples. He covers a board range of subject matter in a collection of essays: Genocide denial in various forms, the American holocaust, internal colonialism and defining genocide in solid terms. All this is done with extensive research and detailed footnotes (the footnotes alone could be organized into a seperate book). Some people may find some of his views radical (something the author deals with in several footnotes), but Mr. Churchill comes across as extremely well-versed in specific subjects, as well as the material as a whole.
The main bulk of the text refers to the European invasion of the Americas. This book does a good job of presenting the full expanse of the suffering of Native American peoples from the time Columbus first set foot on this land. I was generally familiar with the more infamous acts (i.e. Sand Creek, Wounded Knee, forced marches), but this books presents a multitude of lesser known atrocities, and the chilling details of the acts themselves, in a well-ordered overview. Reading the material one gets a sense of a truly organized dirge, as the various European nations sought to clear these peoples from the earth; this pratice, as the author notes, still continues to this day. The effect is emotionally overwhelming.
The more controversial aspects of the the book, such as the health warnings linked with smoking being a cover-up for radiation poisoning, are covered with the same extensive sourcing as the rest of the book. While very possible in and of themselves (see any respectable book on CIA black ops, etc.), I tend to believe that the ineptitude of the government as a collective body tends to work against such long standing conspiracy (see again the CIA, Bay of Pigs, for a few larger examples). He does create "a shadow of a doubt" in these cases and I would be interested in following up on the sources that he cites. These minor instances should not impact the importance of the work as a whole however.
All in all, this is an invaluable reference source and includes a wealth of material. It functions more as a textbook, lacking in humor and editorial comments, but when dealing with this type of material it's a little hard to crack jokes. This is not a lazy Sunday afternoon read, in which case the latest firefighters-in-love epic of the week would do nicely.

Rating:
Summary: A far reaching matter
Review: Ward Churchill has written an important and expansive overview on genocide and how it relates to, especially, the "settler's" policy on native peoples. He covers a board range of subject matter in a collection of essays: Genocide denial in various forms, the American holocaust, internal colonialism and defining genocide in solid terms. All this is done with extensive research and detailed footnotes (the footnotes alone could be organized into a seperate book). Some people may find some of his views radical (something the author deals with in several footnotes), but Mr. Churchill comes across as extremely well-versed in specific subjects, as well as the material as a whole.
The main bulk of the text refers to the European invasion of the Americas. This book does a good job of presenting the full expanse of the suffering of Native American peoples from the time Columbus first set foot on this land. I was generally familiar with the more infamous acts (i.e. Sand Creek, Wounded Knee, forced marches), but this books presents a multitude of lesser known atrocities, and the chilling details of the acts themselves, in a well-ordered overview. Reading the material one gets a sense of a truly organized dirge, as the various European nations sought to clear these peoples from the earth; this pratice, as the author notes, still continues to this day. The effect is emotionally overwhelming.
The more controversial aspects of the the book, such as the health warnings linked with smoking being a cover-up for radiation poisoning, are covered with the same extensive sourcing as the rest of the book. While very possible in and of themselves (see any respectable book on CIA black ops, etc.), I tend to believe that the ineptitude of the government as a collective body tends to work against such long standing conspiracy (see again the CIA, Bay of Pigs, for a few larger examples). He does create "a shadow of a doubt" in these cases and I would be interested in following up on the sources that he cites. These minor instances should not impact the importance of the work as a whole however.
All in all, this is an invaluable reference source and includes a wealth of material. It functions more as a textbook, lacking in humor and editorial comments, but when dealing with this type of material it's a little hard to crack jokes. This is not a lazy Sunday afternoon read, in which case the latest firefighters-in-love epic of the week would do nicely.