

Native Nations, by Kathleen DuVal (2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Premise: A history of Indigenous peoples within the borders of the United States, with a focus on specific exemplar nations and a summary of recent legal developments.
Review: There‘s a reason why this won the Pulitzer. It is absolutely fantastic. ⬇️
As she mentions at the start, this is a political history of the US. Some of it is how I learned history in school, but some definitely has a different focus, for which I am grateful. It‘s long but really worthwhile. Every time I dive into US history, it reminds me that none of the stupid shit happening now is new. And we got to better spots after those previous times, so that gives me hope.
Started this. It‘s about Benedict Arnold and George Washington‘s relationship during the Revolutionary War. It covers four years, starting in the spring of 1776. So far, so good. I‘ve read Philbrick‘s “Bunker Hill” and “Mayflower” and enjoyed them both.
#RevolutionaryWar #history #colonialhistory
Read & listened to this simultaneously because I knew it was gonna take some effort. (Doing the same thing with the Anti-federalists too 😅.)
In America, there has always been this push & pull about what the Founders intended. Now, I can‘t say this book makes it obvious, partly because I believe Hamilton was insincere, but I feel most people can walk away from this wondering why in the hell the Supreme Court has such a problem understanding.
“On a hot, almost windless afternoon in June, a seven-year-old boy stood beside his mother and looked out across the green islands of Boston Harbor.”
That 7-year-old was John Quincy Adams, and they were witnessing the Battle of Bunker Hill from at least ten miles away.
#history #RevolutionaryWar #BunkerHill
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl