Unworthy Republic

The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory

By: Claudio Saunt

Narrated by: Stephen Bowlby

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 Books

Read it and Weep

This is a sad story with details that every American needs to know lest we continue down the road of raping and pillaging to line the pockets of greedy capitalists.

Deeply insightful with life changing potential...

This work is deserving of more than a few lines of commentary. An individuals perspective will certainly affect the level of soul searching that the information will instigate.

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.

American Carnage

Excruciatingly details the cruelty and dehumanization entailed in the white conquest of America and expulsion of native Americans from their homelands to make room for expansion of the brutal slave plantation economy in the South. Essential reading for anyone who wants to come to grips with the legacy of white supremacist ideology in the United States.

Excellent book, lots of details

Excellent book, thoroughly enjoyed it. Contains lots of details; I probably would have preferred a slightly condensed version, but it’s still a worthwhile listen.

Truth

In order to know who we are, we have to acknowledge who we were. Willful ignorance of our past is not acceptable. Being truthful about shameful chapters of our past empowers us to be better.