Overview

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.

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9781665117890

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Reviews

"""[A] much-needed rendering of a disgraceful episode in American history that has been too long misunderstood."" -- ""Wall Street Journal"" ""A major achievement...[to] destroy the illusion that history's course is inevitable and recover the reality of the multiple possibilities that confronted contemporaries."" -- ""Washington Post"" ""A powerful and lucid account, weaving together events with the people who experienced them up close....Saunt has written an unflinching book that reckons with this history and its legacy."" -- ""New York Times"" ""A study in power. It describes, in detail, the coming together of money, rhetoric, political ambition, and white-supremacist idealism. Saunt shows his readers the cost of a racial caste system in the United States."" -- ""Foreign Affairs"" ""Thoroughly researched and quietly outraged."" -- ""Minneapolis Star Tribune"""

[A] much-needed rendering of a disgraceful episode in American history that has been too long misunderstood. -- Wall Street Journal A major achievement...[to] destroy the illusion that history's course is inevitable and recover the reality of the multiple possibilities that confronted contemporaries. -- Washington Post A powerful and lucid account, weaving together events with the people who experienced them up close....Saunt has written an unflinching book that reckons with this history and its legacy. -- New York Times A study in power. It describes, in detail, the coming together of money, rhetoric, political ambition, and white-supremacist idealism. Saunt shows his readers the cost of a racial caste system in the United States. -- Foreign Affairs Thoroughly researched and quietly outraged. -- Minneapolis Star Tribune

Author Information

Claudio Saunt is the Richard B. Russell Professor in American History at the University of Georgia. He is the author of award-winning books, including A New Order of Things; Black, White, and Indian; and West of the Revolution. He lives in Athens, Georgia. Stephen Bowlby has worked as a professional voice actor for more than forty years. His experience spans animation, character work, commercials, and narration. He has read numerous audiobooks throughout his career, including titles by Harold Robbins, Stuart M. Kaminsky, John Sculley, William P. McGivern, and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.

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