American history and self-understanding have long depended on the notion of a "colonial America", an era that-according to prevailing accounts-laid the foundation for the modern United States. In Indigenous Continent, the acclaimed historian Pekka Hamalainen shatters this Eurocentric narrative by retelling the four centuries between first contacts and the peak of Native power from Indigenous points of view. Shifting our perspective away from Jamestown, Plymouth, the American Revolution and other well-worn episodes on the conventional timeline, Hamalainen depicts a sovereign world of distinctive Native nations whose members, far from simple victims of colonial aggression, controlled the continent well into the nineteenth century, fundamentally shaping the actions of the European imperialists and the development of the United States. Indigenous Continent restores Native Americans to their rightful place at the very fulcrum of American history.

The first comprehensive history of the Lakota Indians and their profound role in shaping America's history Named One of the New York Times Critics' Top Books of 2019 * Named One of the 10 Best History Books of 2019 by Smithsonian Magazine * Winner of the MPIBA Reading the West Book Award for Narrative Nonfiction "All nations deserve to have their stories told with this degree of attentiveness."-Parul Sehgal, New York Times "A brilliant, bold, gripping history."-Simon Sebag Montefiore, London Evening Standard, Best Books of 2019 Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull are iconic figures in the American imagination, but in this groundbreaking book they emerge as something different: the architects of Lakota America, an expansive and enduring Indigenous regime that commanded human fates in the North American interior for generations. In this first complete account of the Lakota Indians, Pekka Hamalainen traces their rich and often surprising history from the early sixteenth to the early twenty-first century. He explores the Lakotas' roots as marginal hunter-gatherers and reveals how they reinvented themselves twice: first as a river people who dominated the Missouri Valley, America's great commercial artery, and then-in what was America's first sweeping westward expansion-as a horse people who ruled supreme on the vast high plains. Deeply researched and engagingly written, this history places the Lakotas at the center of American history, and the results are revelatory.

The long-intertwined communities of the Oglala Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation and the bordering towns in Sheridan County, Nebraska, mark their histories in sensational incidents and quiet human connections, many recorded in detail here for the first time. After covering racial unrest in the remote northwest corner of his home state of Nebraska in 1999, journalist Stew Magnuson returned four years later to consider the border towns' peoples, their paths, and the forces that separate them. Examining Raymond Yellow Thunder's death at the hands of four white men in 1972, Magnuson looks deep into the past that gave rise to the tragedy. Situating long-ranging repercussions within 130 years of context, he also recounts the largely forgotten struggles of American Indian Movement activist Bob Yellow Bird and tells the story of Whiteclay, Nebraska, the controversial border hamlet that continues to sell millions of cans of beer per year to the "dry" reservation. Within this microcosm of cultural conflict, Magnuson explores the odds against community's power to transcend misunderstanding, alcoholism, prejudice, and violence.

"Cutting-edge revisionist western history."-Larry McMurtry, The New York Review of Books "A landmark study that will make readers see the history of southwestern America in an entirely new way."-David J. Weber, author of Barbaros An award-winning history of the rise and decline of the vast and imposing Comanche empire In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, a Native American empire rose to dominate the fiercely contested lands of the American Southwest, the southern Great Plains, and northern Mexico. This powerful empire, built by the Comanche Indians, eclipsed its various European rivals in military prowess, political prestige, economic power, commercial reach, and cultural influence. Yet, until now, the Comanche empire has gone unrecognized in American history. This compelling and original book uncovers the lost story of the Comanches. It is a story that challenges the idea of indigenous peoples as victims of European expansion and offers a new model for the history of colonial expansion, colonial frontiers, and Native-European relations in North America and elsewhere. Pekka Hamalainen shows in vivid detail how the Comanches built their unique empire and resisted European colonization, and why they fell to defeat in 1875. With extensive knowledge and deep insight, the author brings into clear relief the Comanches' remarkable impact on the trajectory of history.

Designed to encourage critical thinking about history, the MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY series introduces readers to both primary sources and analytical essays on important topics in American history. The collection of essays and documents in MAJOR PROBLEMS IN NORTH AMERICAN BORDERLANDS surveys the North American past from the point of view of its borderlands. The essays and documents discuss people and events readers may find familiar, such as the founding of early European colonies, U.S. independence, the War of 1812, the U.S.-Mexican War, and Prohibition, but less widely-known events and actors--expanding native peoples, the Bourbon reforms of the Spanish Empire, fleeing slaves and servants, border surveyors, the Mexican Revolution, and key U.S. immigration legislation--also take center stage. In one sense this volume is clearly a work of U.S. history, but it is also Canadian and Mexican and native history with an overriding theme that we must take into account the meetings of different peoples and nations if we are to understand our past and present. This text presents a carefully selected group of readings organized to allow readers to evaluate primary sources, test the interpretations of distinguished historians, and draw their own conclusions. Each chapter includes introductions, source notes, and suggested readings.

Understanding the past helps us navigate the present and future. This book teaches readers about American history and exposes them to movies and other forms of popular culture that tell the stories of the nation's past. A highly respected and thoroughly modern approach to U.S. history, LIBERTY, EQUALITY, POWER, Seventh Edition, shows how the United States was transformed, in a relatively short time, from a land inhabited by hunter-gatherer and agricultural Native American societies into the most powerful industrial nation on Earth. This approach helps readers understand the impact of the notions of liberty and equality, which are often associated with the American story, and recognize how dominant and subordinate groups have affected and been affected by the ever-shifting balance of power.

Developed to meet the demand for a low-cost, high-quality history book, this economically priced version of LIBERTY, EQUALITY, POWER, 7th Edition offers the complete narrative while limiting the number of features, photos, and maps. All volumes feature a paperback, two-color format that appeals to those seeking a comprehensive, trade-sized history text. A highly respected, balanced, and thoroughly modern approach to U.S. History, LIBERTY, EQUALITY, POWER uses these three themes in a unique approach to show how the United States was transformed, in a relatively short time, from a land inhabited by hunter-gatherer and agricultural Native American societies into the most powerful industrial nation on earth. This approach helps readers understand not only the impact of the notions of liberty and equality, which are often associated with the American story, but also how dominant and subordinate groups have affected and been affected by the ever-shifting balance of power. The text integrates the best of recent social and cultural scholarship into a political story, offering readers a comprehensive and complete understanding of American history.

History isn't about memorizing names and dates. Understanding the past can help you navigate the present and future--and LIBERTY, EQUALITY, POWER, Enhanced 7th Edition is the book to guide you. It teaches you about American history, in part by introducing you to movies (really!) and other forms of popular culture that tell the stories of the nation's past. It shows you how the United States was transformed from a land inhabited by hunter-gatherer and agricultural Native American societies into the most powerful industrial nation on Earth. You'll learn about the impact of the notions of liberty and equality as well as about how dominant and subordinate groups have fared in the ever-shifting balance of power. Learning aids help you get through the material, retain the most important concepts and prep for exams (whew)!