Jeffrey Ostler

If you pick this work up prepare yourself for a tough time, as this synthesis seeks to analyze whether Indian Removal east of the Mississippi can be best categorized as an act of government sanctioned genocide, or was "merely" an exercise in ethnic cleansing. For Ostler, the difference relates to intentionality and restraint, and the continuation of removal by U.S. federal authorities, as the casualties mounted, display such a level of indifference as to constitute commission. Perhaps my one issue with this work is that there is some difference in my mind between the final solution of the Jacksonian Period, for which there is no defense, and acts committed prior to 1814, which was a "fair" fight in that both the nascent American settlers and the First Nations had their own traditions of warfare by terror, which should not be glossed over. With that caveat, this book represents a significant advance in our understanding of the course of American empire.… (mer)