Why You Can't Teach United States History without American Indians

Edited by Susan Sleeper-Smith, Juliana Barr, Jean M. O'Brien, Nancy Shoemaker, Scott Manning Stevens

352 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 36 halftones, 5 maps, 1 tables, notes, bibl., index

  • Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4696-2120-3
    Published: April 2015
  • E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-1-4696-2121-0
    Published: April 2015
  • E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-4888-8
    Published: April 2015

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A resource for all who teach and study history, this book illuminates the unmistakable centrality of American Indian history to the full sweep of American history. The nineteen essays gathered in this collaboratively produced volume, written by leading scholars in the field of Native American history, reflect the newest directions of the field and are organized to follow the chronological arc of the standard American history survey. Contributors reassess major events, themes, groups of historical actors, and approaches--social, cultural, military, and political--consistently demonstrating how Native American people, and questions of Native American sovereignty, have animated all the ways we consider the nation’s past. The uniqueness of Indigenous history, as interwoven more fully in the American story, will challenge students to think in new ways about larger themes in U.S. history, such as settlement and colonization, economic and political power, citizenship and movements for equality, and the fundamental question of what it means to be an American.

Contributors are Chris Andersen, Juliana Barr, David R. M. Beck, Jacob Betz, Paul T. Conrad, Mikal Brotnov Eckstrom, Margaret D. Jacobs, Adam Jortner, Rosalyn R. LaPier, John J. Laukaitis, K. Tsianina Lomawaima, Robert J. Miller, Mindy J. Morgan, Andrew Needham, Jean M. O'Brien, Jeffrey Ostler, Sarah M. S. Pearsall, James D. Rice, Phillip H. Round, Susan Sleeper-Smith, and Scott Manning Stevens.

About the Authors

Susan Sleeper-Smith is professor of history at Michigan State University.
For more information about Susan Sleeper-Smith, visit the Author Page.

Juliana Barr is associate professor of history at the University of Florida.
For more information about Juliana Barr, visit the Author Page.

Jean M. O'Brien is professor of history at the University of Minnesota.
For more information about Jean M. O'Brien, visit the Author Page.

Nancy Shoemaker is professor of history at the University of Connecticut.
For more information about Nancy Shoemaker, visit the Author Page.

Scott Manning Stevens is associate professor of Native American studies at Syracuse University.
For more information about Scott Manning Stevens, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

"A mandatory purchase for all libraries." —Choice

“Well-written and generously illustrated, this rich resource merits a place on the bookshelves of everyone teaching American history.”—Journal of American History

“[This] collection succeeds admirably, providing a variety of tools for incorporating Native American history in ways that promise to challenge and excite our students. It deserves to be read widely, and it will reward those teachers who take its message to heart.”—Journal of Southern History

“[An] exceptional set of chapters. . . . [Brings] together impressive scholars from a broad range of fields. . . . [And] recognize[s] the need to go beyond the usual retelling of U.S. history.”—Journal of Interdisciplinary History

“Provide[s] a usable ‘toolkit’ for non-specialists to incorporate contemporary scholarship on American Indian history into the undergraduate curriculum.” —Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

“An excellent book...forces instructors to reexamine their pedagogy and think twice about what they teach and what students may be unconsciously taking away from the standard narratives.” —The Chronicles of Oklahoma