Reviews
vivid and relentless ... meticulous analysis ... a devastating reassessment of the Conquest as nothing less than a holy war, "A splendid antidote to those many books on American Indian policy that tend to ignore the realities of the subject."--Journal of American Ethnic History, "We need to be reminded, again and again, of what Stannard speaks of as'the treasure of a single life.' Stannard gives us a fine review of recentliterature and a rousing, effective call to define our terms,'racism,''genocide,' and use them to describe what happened and still happens."--EllenNore, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, "Vivid and relentless, combining a formidable array of primary sourceswith meticulous analysis--a devastating reassessment of the Conquest as nothingless than a holy war."--Kirkus Reviews, "A fascinating book, enormously impressive in its research and engaging inits style....Puts the Columbus story in philosophical and historicalperspective. Further, it makes connections with our own time which areunsettling and profoundly important."--Howard Zinn, author of A People's Historyof the United States, "American Holocaust isa substantial addition to the library of injustice toward American Natives....From an ethical standpoint, works such as Stannard's are necessary to counterbalance the ethnocentricities of past historical works on Natives. From an academic standpoint, the book is aninterdisciplinary monument. The author has taken an incredible amount of data and applied contemporary anthropological, demographic, and historical techniques to synthesize a comprehensive piece of scholarship. American Holocaust will provide a desireble textbook for students at both the graduateand undergraduate levels. Finally, scholars of Indian-white relations from various disciplines will find the book a valuable resource in terms of method and content."--Samuel R. Cook, American Indian Quarterly.", "A landmark of necessary remembering, American Holocaust acutely dissectsthe demons driving the European invaders and presents the most compelling answeryet to the horrifying question of what it was like to be 'discovered.'"--RichardDrinnon, author of Facing West: The Metaphysics of Indian-Hating andEmpire-Building, "A shattering realization is brought home: the German holocaust was notunique in history. There is a holocaust in our American past. We owe it to itsvictims, and to our own future, to reflect on Stannard's merciless book."--HansKoning, author of Columbus: His Enterprise, "We need to be reminded, again and again, of what Stannard speaks of as 'the treasure of a single life.' Stannard gives us a fine review of recent literature and a rousing, effective call to define our terms,'racism,' 'genocide,' and use them to describe what happened and stillhappens."--Ellen Nore, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, "A shattering realization is brought home: the German holocaust was not unique in history. There is a holocaust in our American past. We owe it to its victims, and to our own future, to reflect on Stannard's merciless book."--Hans Koning, author of Columbus: His Enterprise, "Superb scholarship and compellingly accessible presentation."--Professor Benjamin R. Tong, Ph.D., California Institute of Integral Studies, "The book to read to understand the last five hundred years. Stannard hascourageously documented the initial and continuing genocide of natives of thewestern hemisphere in an irrefutable and convincing manner."--Vine Deloria, Jr.,author of God is Red and Custer Died for Your Sins, "An important work that will have [Stannard] canonized by some and pillored by others by the end of the Quincentennial Year. It is the product of massive reading in the important sources, years of pondering, and fury at what Europe hath wrought in America....His convincing claim is that whathappened was the worst demographic disaster in the history of our species, that Old World diseases and Old World brutality reduced the number of Indians enormously and drove away many Native American peoples over the brink of extinction. How convincing are his evidence and reasoning? Very, I amunhappy to say....Nothing can be done to improve the past, but we can at least face it. David Stannard insists that we do."--Alfred Crosby, The Boston Sunday Globe, "A fascinating book, enormously impressive in its research and engaging in its style....Puts the Columbus story in philosophical and historical perspective. Further, it makes connections with our own time which are unsettling and profoundly important."--Howard Zinn, author of A People'sHistory of the United States, "In a thoroughly documented narrative, David Stannard demolishes a scoreof historical myths, and turns American Holocaust into a searing account of whathappened in the Americas after the arrival of Columbus. It is a stirring andtroubling book "--Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, "Vivid and relentless, combining a formidable array of primary sources with meticulous analysis--a devastating reassessment of the Conquest as nothing less than a holy war."--Kirkus Reviews, "Offers a much-needed counterbalance to centuries of romantic confabulation about the explorer."--The Los Angeles Times, "An important work that will have [Stannard] canonized by some andpillored by others by the end of the Quincentennial Year. It is the product ofmassive reading in the important sources, years of pondering, and fury at whatEurope hath wrought in America....His convincing claim is that what happened wasthe worst demographic disaster in the history of our species, that Old Worlddiseases and Old World brutality reduced the number of Indians enormously anddrove away many Native American peoples over the brink of extinction. Howconvincing are his evidence and reasoning? Very, I am unhappy to say....Nothingcan be done to improve the past, but we can at least face it. David Stannardinsists that we do."--Alfred Crosby, The Boston Sunday Globe, "Offers a much-needed counterbalance to centuries of romanticconfabulation about the explorer."--The Los Angeles Times