The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America (2016)

Needed historical information that doesn't get covered elsewhere. The histories of the indigenous peoples of the Americas do not get the coverage they deserve. Author Reséndez presents the book discussing the enslavement of the Natives and that, rather than the introduction of European diseases was the cause that eventually killed the Indians (which is the term Reséndez uses).
 
The reader explores the history of Indian enslavement, traveling from the beginning in the Caribbean and traveling into the 20th century. How Indians made the "reverse Middle Passage" as he calls it from what would become the United States to Spain and other European countries. How the practice of enslavement began to take hold and maintained itself and simply changed as time marches on.
 
It's hard for me to review this book. It's an interesting premise and it seems he's done quite a bit of research but I'm absolutely not knowledgeable enough to say whether he's right or he's wrong or how to weigh the evidence. It's also difficult to assess because I think the book is a little too long: sometimes he's more interested in the history rather than focusing on the topic at hand. As other reviewers wrote sometimes the book feels episodic and it's not exactly about "the other slavery."
 
I do think it's absolutely a topic that should be explored more. It's part of dismantling the myth of those friendly Thanksgivings or that the Natives are part of a long dead culture that can only be seen in museums. Reséndez makes the very good point that when slavery is discussed in the US, it's more about black people, the Civil War, etc. The enslavement of American Indians was not certainly not something I learned about in school and I'd bet it's probably not unless you take particular classes at the college level or have a teacher at the grade school level who has it in the curriculum.
 
If it interests you I'd recommend you read it but I'd say try the library or see if you can get it as a bargain buy.
 
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While I have read many books touching on the history of Slavery and had come to the conclusion that I knew all there was on the subject, this book has shown otherwise! This is a great book which all should read.
Until I read this book I thought I knew all about this subject, having studied
the historical slavery issues one Rome, Greece, Africa, Mexico, South America, and the American Southern States Slavery. But this book concentration on slavery as it ultimately spread to Western American. While I had purchased this book a long time ago and had let it sit on the shelf, I am so happy to have found the time to read this illuminateing treatment on the subject of Slavery in the U.S. West and Southwest. ( )

Very few times do I read a book that opens up new and uncharted data. This is the case here when Dr. Resendez delves into the widespread enslavement of Native Americans in the Western Hemisphere for over 400 years. It starts with Christopher Columbus and follows to the American Southwest in the 1800's. The Spanish deserve the brunt of the blame but other groups including Native Americans themselves and the Latter Day Saints get involved. A well written and tremendously well researched award winning book. ( )

An interesting introduction to thinking about enslavement of American Indian people from the beginnings of colonization. Reséndez traces not only explicit enslavement, but also the ways in which enslavers (particularly Spanish enslavers) managed to keep systems of enslavement in place even when laws dictated they should fall apart. Through this analysis, Reséndez makes the systems of enslavement that still exist more legible as such.

His analysis does fail entirely to go into the ways that sexual violence was a major part of this--he makes clear that women were more highly valued on slave markets, but just erases the reasons for that, which mirrors the continual erasure of the amount of sexual violence that Native women experience to this day. This massive gap in his analysis really needs to be addressed, and the fact that it is not in this book is really a problem.

Nevertheless, undoubtedly this book will open doors for more historians to examine this phenomenon, and to begin to make connections intellectually between American Indian enslavement and African enslavement on the North American continent, making both avenues of thought more productive. ( )

Slavery in America as most of us understand it is a tragic and vile chapter in our history, and a reminder of the horrors that humans can inflict on other humans in the name of economic power and gain. But, as the author of this book reveals, Africans were not the only victims of the slave trade in America -- "the other slavery" involved indigenous people. This "other slavery" didn't replace African slavery; on the contrary, it was, as the author notes, "there all along."

Starting with the Caribbean, the book moves through parts of Central America and on into North America to reveal that while the practice of slavery had already long existed between tribes in these areas prior to European contact, it was the arrival of the Europeans that caused a major transformation in the practice itself. As they spread throughout these areas, "the other slavery" was "never a single institution," but became a "set of kaleidoscopic practices suited to different markets and regions." As the dustjacket blurb notes, "what started as a European business passed into the hands of indigenous operators and spread like wildfire across vast tracts of the American Southwest." This transformation also had a tremendous impact on and helps to better understand the shared history of Mexico and the United States.

This book is not only eye opening, but eye popping as well. It is a difficult book to read at times on an emotional level, but even though as one reader put it, it is "heavy on historical terminology," it is still very accessible readingwise. Just don't expect the history for the masses approach going into it and you won't be disappointed. I've written a longer post found here if anyone's at all interested. ( )