Portland Public Library

American settler colonialism, a history, Walter L. Hixson

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-245) and index

index present

non fiction

American settler colonialism

bibliography

856738674

Walter L. Hixson

a history

"Over the course of three centuries, American settlers spread throughout North America and beyond, driving out indigenous populations to establish exclusive and permanent homelands of their own. In doing so, they helped to create the richest and most powerful nation in human history, even as they caused the death and displacement of millions of people. This groundbreaking historical synthesis demonstrates that the United States is and has always been fundamentally a settler colonial society--and, indeed, that its growth as a country represents the most sweeping, violent, and significant instance of the phenomenon in history. Linking episodes too often treated in isolation--including Indian removal, the Mexican and Civil Wars, and the settlement of Alaska and Hawaii--it upends many familiar categories of U.S. history and presents a compelling yet disturbing framework through which to understand America's rise to global dominance"--Publisher's Web site

Introduction: Settler colonialism, history, and theory -- "People from the unknown world" : the colonial encounter and the acceleration of violence -- "No savage shall inherit the land" : settler colonialism through the American Revolution -- "The savage and common enemy of the country : U.S. settler colonialism to the Mississippi River -- "Scenes of agony and blood" : settler colonialism and the Mexican and Civil Wars -- "They promised to take our land and they took it" : settler colonialism in the American West -- "Spaces of denial" : American colonialism in Hawai'i and Alaska -- "Things too scandalous to write" : the Philippine intervention and the continuities of colonialism -- "A very particular kind of inclusion" : indigenous people in the postcolonial United States -- Conclusion: The boomerang of savagery