Jeffrey Ostler – författare

A sweeping history of U.S. expansion west of the Mississippi through the end of the Civil War showing that American empire was built on systemic violence and genocide against Native nationsReframing the United States’ westward expansion as a continental empire-building project, historian Jeffrey Ostler shows how the country orchestrated a genocidal campaign against Indigenous populations across the Trans-Mississippi West through treaty coercion, massacres, forced removals, starvation, and the destruction of land and lifeways. As he debunks many long-standing myths, Ostler• Describes how genocide unfolded across diverse geographies and colonial histories in the Pacific Northwest, California, Texas, the Great Plans, the Southwest, and elsewhere• Documents the many forms of colonial violence beyond warfare that decimated populations in ways not always visible in traditional histories• Highlights Indigenous agency and resilience, from voices that illuminate the lived experience and consciousness of genocide to Native nations’ diplomacy, resistance, and adaptation• Breaks new ground on the Civil War’s western dimension and the ways that it intensified genocidal violence in the West, reshaping the region and Indigenous nationsThis gripping history challenges myths of the “winning of the West” and illuminates Indigenous survival against overwhelming odds, making it essential reading for understanding America’s past and its enduring legacies.

The first part of a sweeping multivolume history of the devastation brought to bear on Indian nations by U.S. expansion “An elegant, organized narrative of the United States’ dispossession of Native lands east of the Mississippi. . . . A remarkable book in its breadth and scope.”—Ashley Riley Sousa, Canadian Journal of History “Intense and well-researched, . . . ambitious, . . . magisterial. . . . Surviving Genocide sets a bar from which subsequent scholarship and teaching cannot retreat.”—Peter Nabokov, New York Review of Books In this book, Jeffrey Ostler investigates how American democracy relied on Indian dispossession and the federally sanctioned use of force to remove or slaughter Indians in the way of U.S. expansion. He charts the losses that Indians suffered from relentless violence and upheaval and the attendant effects of disease, deprivation, and exposure. This volume centers on the eastern United States from the 1750s to the start of the Civil War. An authoritative contribution to the history of the United States’ violent path toward building a continental empire, this ambitious and well-researched book deepens our understanding of the seizure of Indigenous lands, including the use of treaties to create the appearance of Native consent to dispossession. Ostler also documents the resilience of Native people, showing how they survived genocide by creating alliances, defending their towns, and rebuilding their communities.

This volume, first published in 2004, presents an overview of the history of the Plains Sioux as they became increasingly subject to the power of the United States in the 1800s. Many aspects of this story - the Oregon Trail, military clashes, the deaths of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, and the Ghost Dance - are well-known. Besides providing fresh insights into familiar events, the book offers an in-depth look at many lesser-known facets of Sioux history and culture. Drawing on theories of colonialism, the book shows how the Sioux creatively responded to the challenges of US expansion and domination, while at the same time revealing how US power increasingly limited the autonomy of Sioux communities as the century came to a close. The concluding chapters of the book offer a compelling reinterpretation of the events that led to the Wounded Knee massacre of December 29, 1890.

This volume, first published in 2004, presents an overview of the history of the Plains Sioux as they became increasingly subject to the power of the United States in the 1800s. Many aspects of this story - the Oregon Trail, military clashes, the deaths of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, and the Ghost Dance - are well-known. Besides providing fresh insights into familiar events, the book offers an in-depth look at many lesser-known facets of Sioux history and culture. Drawing on theories of colonialism, the book shows how the Sioux creatively responded to the challenges of US expansion and domination, while at the same time revealing how US power increasingly limited the autonomy of Sioux communities as the century came to a close. The concluding chapters of the book offer a compelling reinterpretation of the events that led to the Wounded Knee massacre of December 29, 1890.