Francis Jennings (1918–2000)

In this iconoclastic book, Francis Jennings recasts the story of American colonization as a territorial invasion. The traditional history of early America paints the colonies as a transplantation of European culture to a new continent--a "virgin land" in which Native Americans were assigned the role of foil whose main contribution was to stimulate the energy and ingenuity of European dispossessors. Jennings rejects this ideology and examines the relationships between Europeans and Indians show more from a far more critical point of view. Shorn of old mythology and rationalizations, Puritan actions are seen in the cold light of material interest and naked expansion. show less

Jennings was one of the first historians to assimilate the new understanding of what had happened to the thriving Indian civilizations of America when Europe crashed into them; the book fairly sizzles with his outrage, and it's an unforgettable read.

Well researched but so insistent on trumpeting it's incredible revelations that it became a bit strident. What are the amazing revelations? We stole the land from the native inhabitants and were totally ok with slavery, despite any protestations to the contrary. I went to Catholic school, so maybe things are taught differently in public school, but both of these things were made perfectly clear to us by the nuns. And this back in the 70's and 80's

Wordy, but very detailed. Thought it was a good book that could be of use in explaining European invasion of northeastern North Americas indigenous land.