Winnerofthe2023NationalBookAwardinNonfiction-ANationalBestsellerAPublishersWeeklyTop10BestBookof2023AsweepingandoverdueretellingofU.S.historythatrecognizesthatNativeAmericansareessentialtounderstandingtheevolutionofmodernAmerica“Eloquentandcomprehensive....Inthebook’ssweepingsynthesis,standardflashpointsofU.S.historytakeonnewmeaning.“--KathleenDuVal,WallStreetJournal“InaccountsofAmericanhistory,Indigenouspeoplesareoftentreatedaslargelyincidental--eitherobstaclestobeovercomeorpartofanarrativeseparatefromthearcofnation-building.Blackhawk...[shows]thatNativecommunitieshave,instead,beeninseparablefromtheAmericanstoryallalong.“--WashingtonPostBookWorld,“BookstoReadin2023“ThemostenduringfeatureofU.S.historyisthepresenceofNativeAmericans,yetmosthistoriesfocusonEuropeansandtheirdescendants.ThislongpracticeofignoringIndigenoushistoryischanging,however,withanewgenerationofscholarsinsiststhatanyfullAmericanhistoryaddressthestruggle,survival,andresurgenceofAmericanIndiannations.IndigenoushistoryisessentialtounderstandingtheevolutionofmodernAmerica.NedBlackhawkinterweavesfivecenturiesofNativeandnon-Nativehistories,fromSpanishcolonialexplorationtotheriseofNativeAmericanself-determinationinthelatetwentiethcentury.Inthistransformativesynthesisheshowsthat-Europeancolonizationinthe1600swasneverapredeterminedsuccess;-NativenationshelpedshapeEngland’scrisisofempire;-thefirstshotsoftheAmericanRevolutionwerepromptedbyIndianaffairsintheinterior;-CaliforniaIndianstargetedbyfederallyfundedmilitiaswereamongthefirstcasualtiesoftheCivilWar;-theUnionvictoryforeverrecalibratedNativecommunitiesacrosstheWest;-twentieth-centuryreservationactivistsrefashionedAmericanlawandpolicy.Blackhawk’sretellingofU.S.historyacknowledgestheenduringpower,agency,andsurvivalofIndigenouspeoples,yieldingatrueraccountoftheUnitedStatesandrevealinganewthevariedmeaningsofAmerica.
BLACKHAWK AMERICA AGENCY SHOWS agency
