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The primary source is the Greenland chapter in Jared Diamond's "Collapse Another book on the pre-Columbian North American ivory trade is Farley Mowat's "the Far Farer's Mowat's book "West Viking" in 1961 had endorsed the theory that the Vikings had really made it to North America. When they found the Viking settlement at L'anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. Mowat realized that it was not an agricultural settlement but a pirate outpost to prey on existing shipping.
Even Columbus sailed off the shores of Greenland in 1477. His brother was in Bristol England advocating for a trans-Atlantic voyage, when Columbus made his first 1492 voyage. When news of his success reached England, the Bristol traders sent Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) to re-establish their trade with North America. They made more money off fish and fur than the Spanish made in gold.
Read up on your history before making assumptions
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618001905/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_aB8TBbCQ7Q6M1
I can't tell you what tribe the declaration of independence was referring to, but Empire of the Summer Moon does a good job of describing the atrocities of the Comanche.
https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Summer-Moon-Comanches-Powerful/dp/1416591060
In addition to the many rape stories as well as the killing of children, there were others like how they would cut your eyelids off and tie you down on your back staring into the summer sun until you baked to death.
This emphasizes different points from those made in Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me. https://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0743296281
Texas is the most populous state to approve textbooks at the state level. That means textbook publishers cater to Texas or their books fail, and schools elsewhere are often stuck with whatever Texas approved.
Texas is a Red state still deeply in denial about slavery and racism. Last I checked, kids in Texas public schools are still taught that the Civil War started for a "variety" of reasons, only one of which was slavery.
Publishers who want a successful textbook must therefore cater to Texas by downplaying the viciousness and significance of slavery. This is a primary reason why teachers have a hard time finding the materials they need.
Thomas Sowell and a number of others have argued African American hip hop culture is basically white redneck behavior, Sowell in "Black Rednecks And White Liberals" which I'm about to begin. Colin Woodward's "American Nation's" touches on this as well, as do other authors who've penned books on the topic, although his book is more about all of the regional cultures that make up our country dating back to the groups that founded those regions and how their beliefs are still resoundingly alive and well and how politicians actively exploit these differences we have between one another. There are other academics I've heard doing research like this but I'm having trouble recall their names, I heard about them in some podcasts. But, there's definitely more reading you can do to explore this idea more.
Amazon links to check out both titles I mentioned:
https://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029
Not even remotely.
For a better and much more comprehensive view, read American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Collin Woodard.
They claimed it. The Comanches fought back. There were a few points in which American settlement was actually pushed back by a hundred miles or so due to how savagely the Comanche fought. For a long time, the United States was unable to truly connect its two halves. The mounted Plains Indians were far too fast and mobile to effectively fight with then-modern technology and doctrine, much like trying to fight Steppe Nomads at the time in Russia.
What changed was the invention of a new, stronger rifle and an interest in buffalo hides to market. White men could now shoot further than the Mongol-like, always-mounted Comanches, and more importantly the White men utterly annihilated the buffalo herds the Comanche survived off of. Basically, the American free market starved the Comanche and other Plains Indians out of the thing they needed to survive by lucky happenstance, which let White men truly conquest the Great Plains. And in 1874 the Red River War happened, which saw most of the last free Com ache tribes surrender to the Americans and go onto reservations because they had no other choice and would otherwise starve to death. This finally made the southern Great Plains save for permanent White colonization.
I highly recommend the book Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne . There's also an Audible audiobook version which is quite good. It's a book about the rise and fall of the Comanche nation[s] and it's super fascinating to hear about that period of frontier warring ad tragedy.
Highly recommend reading "King Leopold's Ghost" to anyone interested in the history of Belgian colonialist atrocities in Africa. Warning: it makes for grim reading.
Not a new thing in my reality. I remember reading about the origins of corn in Charles Mann's "1491" book, where it is described to be very colorful
Unless kids learn the reality of how the America’s were really conquered, we’ll never get past the literal crap that people believe. If you’re interested, there’s a great book called ‘Lies My Teacher Told Me’ that tells the real stories about the American mythology. https://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/1620973928
> "nation to nation" relationship
Warning - probably sounds pedantic. sorry.
'Nation' is often confused with 'state' - with states being legal, political entities with borders. 'Nations' being <em>cultural</em>, political entities, but no borders.
Add to that and the our constitution recognizes that bands have legal standing equal to the federal government, and nation to nation makes sense.
(Provinces, unlike bands, have essentially delegated authority. Even though areas of authority - health, education, etc are delegated. Municipalities have an even lower level of authority. Only the Federal government has the 'authority' to negotiate with the bands, regardless of issue.)
Being a completely separate 'nation' within a state is pretty much normal for most of North America.
You should read 1491 and America Before. Also there a numerous journal entries that have been published about the true history of Columbus and westward expansion.
Edit: words and formatting
Most native tribes were horrific savages.
Here's an excellent book to read, which goes into great detail about Comanche history and cites the firsthand accounts of the people who encountered Comanches and many Comanches themselves.
https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Summer-Moon-Comanches-Powerful/dp/1416591060
Sorry, but people who live in a culture that tortures infants to death have it coming when they get wiped out. This was not limited to the Comanches, either. Firsthand accounts from all over the Americas by even completely barbaric Europeans confirm this.
The funny thing is one of our closest allies in the wars against the Comanches were fucking cannibals.
If you want to get started on Central America, we can always talk about the Aztecs.
I mean this guy wrote an entire book (I haven't read it) explaining these so-called nations. Eastern California and N Dakota are both mostly rural republican places with a libertarian bend. New York City does have a pretty distinct culture with way more immigrants than lots of other areas and just generally feels like it's a world unto itself. New Orleans and Quebec is a little shaky, but LA is different than the rest of the south and I suppose he didn't want to make another category. Maine and Minnesota don't lean either super republican or super democrat. Minnesota is pretty distinct, but it is definitely part of a greater area if not this "nation". Bob Dylan (native Minnesotan) famously said "the nation I come from is called the Midwest".
This guy's story is really interesting. Parker's Fort, where his mother was captured and the rest of his family slaughtered, is a well kept state park. There was a book written about him, Empire of the Summer Moon, that was a Pulitzer finalist and great read. You can't imagine the violence and turbulence in his world as the Comanche fought the Anglos and Spanish/Mexicans.
> it coudl be argued much of africa has a better life and opportunity under colonialism
Read King Leopold’s Ghost from cover to cover before you ever make this claim again.
I haven't read that one, but I loved Sam Gwynne's book "Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History." https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Summer-Moon-Comanches-Powerful/dp/1416591060/ref=pd_lpo_card_2?pd_rd_i=1416591060&psc=1
I'm also told that "War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Raids and the U.S.-Mexican War" by Brian DeLay is a good one. It is part of the Lamar Series and looks not only at the Comanche, but also the Apache, Kiowa, and Navajo peoples.
https://www.amazon.com/Tribe-Homecoming-Belonging-Sebastian-Junger/dp/1455566381
If you read enough English to read this book, you should check it out.
Sounds like the cities in China are so hyper-modern-society'ized that it can be very harmful for your mental health.
Right here.
King Leopold's Ghost is a powerful book on Beligian atrocities in the Congo during its colonial period. Highly recommended for understanding what's taking place there to this day.
Imma shill this book in a parent comment as well because it deserves it. It questions and addresses a lot of misconceptions about the Americas before European contact - especially in regards to population size and levels of "advancement" of civilizations in the hemisphere. Also because I'm passionate about all things history related and in general, a nerd.
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann.
Probably my favorite book I read in college because it's genuinely interesting and written for a broad audience.
Male here, but I have to recommend this book whenever I have the chance: Tribe by Sebastian Junger.
Junger is war correspondent, documentary filmmaker, writer, etc. He's seen way more than most of us ever will, and this book really drove home some points for me about what it means to be part of your community, part of society, and how we treat each other.
This review on Amazon sums it up very well:
"Tribe focuses on the growing disconnect we’re experiencing with one another as a society, and the far reaching consequences of that disconnect. It’s an eye-opening letter to the American public that politely reminds us that we’ve lost our way when it comes to being a closer knit community as a whole.
Not always, of course. In his book, he touches on how tragedies such as 9/11 brings us closer - albeit briefly. But once the dust settles, we fall back to our old ways.
This is not a book about war, the military, or PTSD. It’s about the loss of belonging, caring for our fellow man as we do about the ones closest to us. He uses a parable about a brief encounter he has with a homeless man as a young adult. The man sees that he’s on a backpacking trip on his own and asks if he has enough food for his trip. The young Junger, afraid of being mugged for his supplies, lies and tells the man that he has just a little food to last him. The homeless man tells Junger he’ll never make it on what he has and hands him his lunch bag that he more than likely received from a homeless shelter - probably the only meal the homeless man would have the entire day. Sebastian feels horrible about himself after that, but uses that lesson as a parable for Tribe.
Think of your fellow man before thinking of yourself. Because without that sense of humanism, togetherness, belonging, we’re all dead inside."
I agree, but boy I wish there was an updated version of it. It's data is before H.W. Bush.
I spoke too soon. I was going to leave an amazon link and found this from 2012:
All ya'll should read 'Cadillac Desert'.
​
Also I was annoyed by the one farmer that complained about ground water restrictions taking acres out of production. How many acres will go out of production when it becomes too expensive (if not impossible at any price) to pump out ground water?
Immediately, I think you should consider two things: Nightmare on Elm Street, and the trope of the impaired female.
Even the great Wes Craven, in early drafts, fell prey to this bias of the (typically male) writer. His female victim was perceived by his daughter as poorly written. Therefore, Craven decided to break the trope and made his female characters more competent.
In the end, Elm Street has proven to be a classic film, rich with meaning. It's more than just "oh, scary guy killing people." It's about realizing that groups of people can agree to do terrible things, like gathering together to burn Freddie. It's a complicated revenge fantasy told from the victims' perspective.
So... that's where I'll start. Why does Maggie need to be "battling depression" in your logline? What if she's not impaired and actually up against a terrifying threat?
That said, a flawed character is viable. And yes, we all face depression. But if your story stands the test of time, it would benefit from wrestling with the real source of our societal depression. Here's a link to a book from 2016. It openly points to the source: a real lack of community.
Good luck with writing. Thanks for trusting us to reflect on your work.
- Daniel
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus is well regarded and very readable.
He also wrote a long-form essay on it for The Atlantic if you want a bit of the flavor before purchasing: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/03/1491/302445/
I suggest reading the book Cadillac Desert about the Southwest and how its tricky relationship its water came to be.
Long story short. US government knew there was a lot of land, a somewhat inhospitable climate, and an unpredictable snow-fed river in the American southwest. During the depression and through WWII they began building dams all over the Southwest with the aim that none of the Colorado's water "go to waste". The Colorado valley was supposed to become a modern cradle of civilization, and all of it was made possible by securing its water. It is one of the reasons Arizona is more than three times New Mexico in population---New Mexico does not have nearly the same water resources---and why Los Angeles became powerful and influential...but only in the 2nd half of the 20th century. The massive damming operations elsewhere in California have helped the State produce the majority of fruits and vegetable in the US.
So it was never a matter of 'muh free land'. It was land with untapped potential. It was very valuable land when the right technology was introduced to it.
I just want to take a moment to say Dr. Lowen's book Lies My Teacher Told Me is one of the best and easiest to read U.S. history books out there. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1620973928/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_89N7A38X7XYE9G0QEM5R
Yes it is. Most of the K-12 textbook material is set by committee somewhere in Texas, books are then bought and made mandatory teaching by public schools. Learning about the founding fathers is like watching Mel Gibson in The Patriot.
For some good insight on why it is garbage check this book out sometime.. I read it after highschool and it was an eye opener.
Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen https://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/1620973928