A lesson learned from NATIVE NATIONS: A MILLENNIUM IN NORTH AMERICA, by Kathleen DuVal

 Many people’s entire perception of American History needs to be radically reconsidered.

            In the America of 2025, history wars have taken an unusual position front and center in the world of American politics, partly because our current administration has sold a specific view of American history—the story of a great nation, founded by good moral Christian pioneers, who conquered and civilized a continent and in the modern world are in a never-ending battle with modern forces to protect proper American values. How that view pertains to eras such as the American Civil War are another matter altogether, but specifically for the purposes of this reading it has put the Trump administration in an interesting position given its historical view of the American Indian nations, such as when they argued that the soldiers who participated in the Wounded Knee “battle” (often considered more of a massacre) were heroes deserving of their medals of honor. This modern context makes Kathleen DuVal’s Native Nations: A Millennium in North America a fascinating and incendiary work that examines American History from the perspective of the American Indian nations, and adopts a deep and nuanced view of their history that directly contradicts many established historical narratives. Unsurprisingly, DuVal has zero use for the “heroic pioneers” narrative, but she also contradicts the opposite common narrative, that the Indian nations were victims of a brutal and unrelenting genocide that exterminated most of them throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Instead, DuVal emphasizes how powerful and important the American Indian nations were until the late 1800’s, and how hard they have fought for their physical and cultural survival that has led to a renaissance for the nations in our modern era.

            The book is a fascinating and easy read considering its depth and size, and I would definitely recommend it to most history-minded readers. There are quibbles to be had here, as the book clearly didn’t have the time and space to cover all of the great topics in Native history (the California genocide is only briefly mentioned, and DuVal saves the dark 1860-1920 years for the Indian nations for the book’s final act). But overall, DuVal paints a compelling portrait of hundreds of nations with unique cultures, histories, and traditions, who held their own nicely against the threats of growing European empires over the course of centuries. She tells fascinating smaller stories along the way, such as how smaller and weaker nations disintegrated and were then absorbed into smaller nations, with all the petty cultural and political disputes that often come along with the process of assimilation. DuVal also argues what a remarkable achievement it is that the Indian nations managed to preserve so much of their culture in the wake of massive American pressure to destroy it, and how much the modern Indian nations contribute to American society and culture.

            Overall, DuVal’s book is a unique and compelling story of American History through eyes that were long ignored by mainstream historians, and it’s a revisionist history that is essential reading for anyone who is curious to learn more about the importance of the American Indian nations to our own nation. Much is lost when we ignore or downplay the Indian story in American History, and it should never be done in the name of teaching children a sanitized narrative that we’ve convinced ourselves is the only one they can understand and handle; the history of all these groups needs to be understood and preserved.

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