
Unworthy Republic
The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory
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Narrated by:
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Stephen Bowlby
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By:
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Claudio Saunt
In May 1830, the United States formally launched a policy to expel Native Americans from the East to territories west of the Mississippi River. Justified as a humanitarian enterprise, the undertaking was to be systematic and rational, overseen by Washington's small but growing bureaucracy. But as the policy unfolded over the next decade, thousands of Native Americans died under the federal government's auspices, and thousands of others lost their possessions and homelands in an orgy of fraud, intimidation, and violence.
Drawing on firsthand accounts and the voluminous records produced by the federal government, Saunt's deeply researched book argues that Indian Removal, as advocates of the policy called it, was not an inevitable chapter in US expansion across the continent. Rather, it was a fiercely contested political act designed to secure new lands for the expansion of slavery and to consolidate the power of the southern states. Indigenous peoples fought relentlessly against the policy, while many US citizens insisted that it was a betrayal of the nation's values. When Congress passed the act by a razor-thin margin, it authorized one of the first state-sponsored mass deportations in the modern era, marking a turning point for native peoples and for the United States.
©2020 Claudio Saunt (P)2020 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...




















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Read it and Weep
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my perspective was shaped as follows. Growing up in the west with grandparents that lived in the Black hills of South Dakota, and Browning Montana I was aware to some degree of native Americans and reservations. In my 30s I lived on the boarder of the Salish-kootani reservation near Missoula after a shallow stint in Hollywood. Now in north Florida (st Augustine) My eyes have been opened to not only "southern" ideology but the multi layered history of Florida.
The book filled in gaps of Native history some I was sadly ignorant of. I came away with an understanding of the interrelationships between slavery and native removal / dispossesion / genocide and general fukkery. One of the more interesting experiences in my life was traveling the upper Missouri River with Stephen Ambrose stopping at key spots and reading from Lewis & Clark's journals. Now I've got to go back and rethink how I feel about their journey.
Ultimately I am very disturbed by the book, wait, not the book. The book exposes the facade, the veneer of false history, platitudes of patriotic identity and humanity. The troubling part, the disturbed aspect Is perhaps akin to discovering you are adopted, or some twisted betrayal has occurred.
Where do I go from here? A heaviness has climbed inside my soul. Is the foundation of fraud and greed our society truly sprang from the norm. I am angry and sad.
A necessary, thought provoking and inspiring read.
My deepest and kindest appreciation to those who worked on getting the book out, especially the author Claudio Saunt.
Deeply insightful with life changing potential...
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American Carnage
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Excellent book, lots of details
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Imagine, for example, the extreme posturing required to assert (as Georgia politicians did) that the Cherokees’ presence in the immediate vicinity of white settlers was detrimental to the Cherokees, while at the same time asserting that the black slave population’s presence was enhanced and improved by their proximity to the whites. Indian land, once reclaimed, became plantation land, with vast numbers of slaves supplanting the Cherokees who had been unceremoniously driven out of their ancestral homes.
The role of rhetoric, especially the kind known nowadays as “whataboutism” (appeal to hypocrisy) is also clearly demonstrated, with senators and representatives from the South cynically mocking the politicians and activists of the North (not without justification, but still cynically) for their treatment of Native populations on their own soil. Andrew Jackson’s role in bullying and threatening politicians with retribution unless they voted his way, and the way these politicians valued their jobs above any principles of decency and fairness again reminds me of the compliant and spineless politicians of today, who choose to ignore a multitude of wrongdoings by their leaders and are therefore deeply implicated. When your job becomes more important than your soul, something is wrong. It is both revelatory and infuriating to discover how not much has changed. Cynicism is the enemy, and lack of empathy for the plight of fellow humans, now as then.
Well narrated too! Easily a five star rating.
A Slow Burn
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Eye opening!
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It can be a bit dry, there is virtually no commentary or break in the information given to you as it is almost entirely primary sources. However it did cause me to have to go back and rewind or take a break from time to time
Very educational, highly recommend
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Brutal Chapter in US History
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Read it for a class
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For anyone inclined to believe the whitewashed history of the nation, I can only give this advice. Go into this book without preconception of race or ethnicity. Don't go in with the trite straw man defense that the story is claiming all of these people are wonderful, and all of those people are evil. Go in with an open mind, as a human, without a team to root for, so to speak. Let the words teach you the true history.
Genocide by any other name
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