Seeing Red, Michael John Witgen
Seeing Red, Michael John Witgen
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Seeing Red
Indigenous Land, American Expansion, and the Political Economy of Plunder in North America

Author: Michael John Witgen

Narrator: Kaipo Schwab

Unabridged: 13 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/28/2023


Synopsis

Against long odds, the Anishinaabeg resisted removal, retaining thousands of acres of their homeland in what is now Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Their success rested partly on their roles as sellers of natural resources and buyers of trade goods, which made them key players in the political economy of plunder that drove white settlement and US development in the Old Northwest. But, as Michael Witgen demonstrates, the credit for Native persistence rested with the Anishinaabeg themselves. Outnumbering white settlers well into the nineteenth century, they leveraged their political savvy to advance a dual citizenship that enabled mixed-race tribal members to lay claim to a place in US civil society. Telling the stories of mixed-race traders and missionaries, tribal leaders and territorial governors, Witgen challenges our assumptions about the inevitability of US expansion.

Deeply researched and passionately written, Seeing Red will command attention from listeners who are invested in the enduring issues of equality, equity, and national belonging at its core.

About Michael John Witgen

Michael John Witgen (Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe) is professor in the Department of History and the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race at Columbia University.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Robert on August 09, 2023

This is another must-read book on indigenous history in the U. S. It starts out well, structuring the narrative on the stories of an abortive "revolution" and of a white boy captured and raised as indigenous and his travels and travails that reveal the complexity of American expansion. The middle an......more

Goodreads review by Rosa on February 15, 2024

I live in a part of what was deemed The Northwest Territories and am especially interested in history about the area. Seeing Red is a good broad overview of treaties, scams and violence the U.S used to encroach on Anishinaabe land focusing mostly on what is now Northern Indiana, Michigan and Wiscons......more

Goodreads review by Ariana on March 09, 2025

extremely informative, a little dry at times, but a very important book......more

Goodreads review by Alyssa on February 10, 2024

Super important. Can be a little dense at times but essential reading for understanding some of the historical context for the socio-political climate today......more

Goodreads review by Tina on February 17, 2024

As attempts are made to pull aside the curtain of systemic racism, this fabulous book pulls the curtain entirely down. This is the history we should have learned ---the history of America and Plunder Economics, because that is where our national wealth started: plunder economics, slave economics, in......more