Surviving Genocide

Surviving Genocide is the first part of a sweeping two-volume history that delves into the devastation inflicted on Indian nations through U.S. expansion.

An elegant and organised narrative, this work explores the United States' dispossession of Native lands east of the Mississippi. "A remarkable book in its breadth and scope." —Ashley Riley Sousa, Canadian Journal of History

"Intense and well-researched, ambitious, magisterial. Surviving Genocide sets a bar from which subsequent scholarship and teaching cannot retreat." —Peter Nabokov, New York Review of Books

In this volume, Jeffrey Ostler examines how American democracy depended on the dispossession of Indian lands and the federally sanctioned force used to remove or slaughter Indians obstructing U.S. expansion. The book charts the significant losses faced by Indians due to relentless violence, disease, deprivation, and exposure, focusing on the eastern United States from the 1750s to the start of the Civil War.

This authoritative contribution enriches the understanding of the United States’ aggressive path towards building a continental empire. It sheds light on the seizure of Indigenous lands and how treaties were used to fabricate consent for dispossession. Ostler also highlights the resilience of Native people, showcasing their survival of genocide through alliances, town defences, and community rebuilding.