Fergus Bordewich, Killing the White Man's Indian

My ultimate goal of all this reading on Native American history and the frontier West is to have a sound basis of rebuttal against the hateful leftists in my department who are expanding the curriculum, quite dramatically, to include Latin American and Indigenous studies. I'm not against that. What I'm against is one-sided indoctrination, which according to more than a few students, is quite rampant on my campus.

So, while I enjoy reading the general histories and more specialized (polemical and leftist) studies, my main hope is to develop my own curriculum and syllabi for courses on race, class, gender, and culture, because these things are coming down the pipeline ready or not. It's best practice to be able to serve all of our student demographics, not just the far-left, non-white constituencies who are being taught leftist revolutionary doctrines and hate-America ideologies.

In any case, here's a wonderful antidote: Fergus Bordewich, Killing the White Man's Indian: Reinventing Native Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century.

I'll have more later.

When America Opened Its Doors

I posted on A. Roger Ekirch on Saturday.

He's the author of American Sanctuary: Mutiny, Martyrdom, and National Identity in the Age of Revolution.

Kathleen DuVal, Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has a review.

At WSJ:

'Refugees were the ideal citizens for a republic." @KathleenADuVal _When America Opened its Doors_ #vastearlyamerica https://t.co/i0QVknRb9J pic.twitter.com/O69zu1svUq

— Karin Wulf (@kawulf) February 18, 2017

America’s founders—both its leaders and those protesting in the streets and fighting the British Army—saw immigrants as vital to the mission of the fledgling nation. The Declaration of Independence accused King George III of “obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners” and refusing “to encourage their migrations” into the colonies. To the Founders, the king’s restrictions on immigration were evidence of his desire to keep the colonies backward and under his thumb. In the newly independent United States, they firmly believed, immigration would accelerate economic development and help the country become a player among the powerful empires of Europe.

As A. Roger Ekirch’s deeply researched and elegantly written “American Sanctuary” reveals, early Americans saw the United States as a sanctuary for people oppressed by the old tyrannical governments of Europe. Refugees were the ideal citizens for a republic: Having fled tyranny, they would be a bulwark against it. And they came. Nearly 100,000 Europeans immigrated to the United States in the 1790s, a dramatic addition to a population that was just under four million at the start of the decade.

But when the French Revolution turned radical in the 1790s, some Americans began to worry. They feared that French as well as Irish immigrants would drag the new, still-fragile country into anarchy. Harrison Otis, a congressman from Massachusetts, gave a speech in which he railed that he did “not wish to invite hoards of wild Irishmen, nor the turbulent and disorderly of all parts of the world, to come here with a view to disturb our tranquility.” South Carolina Rep. Robert Goodloe Harper proposed getting rid of naturalized citizenship altogether. And from the beginning Congress limited naturalized citizenship to any “free white person.”

The war that broke out in 1793 between Britain and revolutionary France sparked the first great divide in American politics. Thomas Jefferson and others supported France, grateful for its help in defeating Britain in the American Revolution and for following the United States into revolution itself. But other Americans, including John Adams and George Washington, were aghast at French revolutionaries’ use of the guillotine and the Bastille. After Washington’s administration negotiated a treaty with the British in 1794 that struck supporters of France as too cozy, New Yorkers threw rocks at Alexander Hamilton. Some congressmen even talked of impeaching Washington.

Into this fractious debate about the place of the United States in the world came the bloodiest mutiny in the history of the British navy—a mutiny that forced Americans to decide if the country was truly a haven for lovers of liberty, even those who had killed for its sake.

Probably half of the HMS Hermione’s diverse crew had been “impressed”—meaning that the British navy had forced them from non-British private merchant ships into British service. On one day alone in 1795, sailors from the Hermione boarded 20 American ships, took nearly 70 crewmen (most of whom claimed American citizenship) and forced them into the British navy. On most ships of the era, impressed sailors grumbled but did not mutiny, but circumstances combined with the revolutionary times and a particularly cruel captain to push the Hermione’s crew over the edge. On the night of Sept. 21, 1797, off the coast of Puerto Rico, several of the crew charged into the captain’s cabin, brandishing swords and axes. After killing him, crew members searched the ship and killed all 10 officers.

Mr. Ekirch’s gripping and timely book both conveys the drama of this long-forgotten mutiny and reveals its importance to the early American republic. The first part of “American Sanctuary” tells the story of the mutiny, and the rest of the book traces the crisis it prompted—specifically when some of the mutineers from the HMS Hermione fled to the United States. Would Americans side with rebels against British tyranny, or with the rule of law on the high seas? Would the United States turn its back on Thomas Paine’s charge in “Common Sense” to be “an asylum for mankind” by extraditing mutineers to Britain?

The man that put all of these questions to the test called himself Jonathan Robbins. A little over a year after the mutiny, an American schooner docked at the port of Charleston with Robbins aboard. He had reportedly bragged to his shipmates that he had been one of the mutineers on the now-infamous Hermione. Charleston officials put him in jail, where an officer who had served on the Hermione prior to the mutiny visited him and declared that the man in the cell was in fact Thomas Nash, one of the mutiny’s leaders. After the British consul in Charleston requested the man’s extradition for court-martial, U.S. Secretary of State Timothy Pickering and President John Adams determined that this was a simple case of mutiny and murder on a British ship. With their approval, the man calling himself Robbins was handed over to British justice.

It was a huge political mistake...

Keep reading.

Robert W. Merry, A Country of Vast Designs

At Amazon, Robert W. Merry, A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent.

George Ciccariello-Maher

Remember how I've been saying that indigenous studies are the hippest of the far-left disciplines right now? Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is a revolutionary Marxist, and I suspect she's pretty much a model for those working in the genre.

Readers might recall how George Ciccariello-Maher got in trouble a while back for tweeting "All I want for Christmas is white genocide."

He's doubling down, it turns out, lol:

pic.twitter.com/jhkpg2W965

— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher) February 26, 2017

And since I'm researching this stuff, here's his book, at Amazon, Decolonizing Dialectics.

Kristen Keogh's Rainy Forecast

It's raining today.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."




And at Theo's, "Cartoon Roundup..."

Cartoon Credit: A.F. Branco, "Trump Transgender Guidelines."

Lea Michele Rule 5

I'm behind on my Sunday Rule 5 blogging. I think books have been more sexy or something, heh.

Lea Michele In Hawaii (PHOTO GALLERY) https://t.co/YhKBIIPqAv

— TMZ (@TMZ) February 26, 2017

Check the Pirate's Cove, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup," and "If All You See……is a horrible evil world killing from carbon pollution dog, you might just be a Warmist."

Elite Daily, "Bella Hadid’s See-Through Dress Shows Off Her ENTIRE BODY."

Drunken Stepfather, "STEPLINKS OF THE DAY," and "DOVE CAMERON FOR GALORE OF THE DAY."

90 Miles from Tyranny, "Morning Mistress - Two For One!"

Bro-Bible, "Sexy Sara Underwood Strips Down and Gets Naked on Snapchat," and "Milana Vayntrub, the Hottie From the AT&T Commercials, Shows Off Some Excellent Cleavage at Oscars Pre-Party."

Plus, the Hostages, "Big Boob Friday."

From last week, at the Other McCain, "Rule 5 Sunday: Valentine’s Day Pinup Edition."

At Goodstuff's, "GOODSTUFFs BLOGGING MAGAZINE (282nd Issue) - Priscilla Presley."

Bill Paxton Has Died

From complications during surgery, I guess.

The first thing out of my mouth when I saw the headline was, "Oh my God!"

He was so young and vital. Only 61 years old.

I watched him in "Nightcrawler" on Netflix over the Christmas Holiday. He just seems too young.

At Memeorandum, "Bill Paxton — Dead at 61."

And TMZ:

#RIP Bill Paxton Dead at 61 https://t.co/Np1hdE9yZt

— TMZ (@TMZ) February 26, 2017

Candice Millard, Hero of the Empire

Now this is something to which I can relate.

At Amazon, Candice Millard, Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill.

Patrick Phillips, Blood at the Root

I'm just coming across this book.

It's intriguing, to say the least.

At Amazon, Patrick Phillips, Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America.

Forsyth County, Georgia, at the turn of the twentieth century was home to a large African American community that included ministers and teachers, farmers and field hands, tradesmen, servants, and children. Many black residents were poor sharecroppers, but others owned their own farms and the land on which they’d founded the county’s thriving black churches.

But then in September of 1912, three young black laborers were accused of raping and murdering a white girl. One man was dragged from a jail cell and lynched on the town square, two teenagers were hung after a one-day trial, and soon bands of white “night riders” launched a coordinated campaign of arson and terror, driving all 1,098 black citizens out of the county. In the wake of the expulsions, whites harvested the crops and took over the livestock of their former neighbors, and quietly laid claim to “abandoned” land. The charred ruins of homes and churches disappeared into the weeds, until the people and places of black Forsyth were forgotten.

National Book Award finalist Patrick Phillips tells Forsyth’s tragic story in vivid detail and traces its long history of racial violence all the way back to antebellum Georgia. Recalling his own childhood in the 1970s and ’80s, Phillips sheds light on the communal crimes of his hometown and the violent means by which locals kept Forsyth “all white” well into the 1990s.

Blood at the Root is a sweeping American tale that spans the Cherokee removals of the 1830s, the hope and promise of Reconstruction, and the crushing injustice of Forsyth’s racial cleansing. With bold storytelling and lyrical prose, Phillips breaks a century-long silence and uncovers a history of racial terrorism that continues to shape America in the twenty-first century.

ICYMI: Peter Cozzens, The Earth Is Weeping

I can't get to this one yet, but it looks great!

At Amazon, Peter Cozzens, The Earth Is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West.

Henry Olsen, The Working Class Republican

*BUMPED.*

Excellent, excellent timing.

Available June 27th.

At Amazon, Henry Olsen, The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism.

Hot New Releases

At Amazon, Our Best-Selling New and Future Releases. Updated Hourly.

Also, GoPro HERO5 Black.

And, AmazonBasics Apple Certified Lightning to USB Cable - 6 Feet (1.8 Meters) - White.

More, from Adele, "25."

Glad Tall Kitchen Drawstring Trash Bags, 13 Gallon, 90 Count, (Packaging May Vary).

Here, 2 Pounds Unroasted Coffee Beans, Premium Select from RhoadsRoast Coffees (Brazil Cerrado Arabica - Natural 17/18 Screen Coffee Beans, 2 Pounds Unroasted Green Beans).

JanSport Big Student Classics Series Backpack - Forge Grey.

Still more, Cafe Break-Resistant Plastic 20oz Restaurant-Quality Beverage Tumblers | Set of 16 in 4 Assorted Colors.

BONUS: Ellen Meiksins Wood, The Retreat From Class: A New True Socialism, and Democracy Against Capitalism: Renewing Historical Materialism.

Nigel Farage: 2016 Was the Beginning of a Great Global Revolution #CPAC2017 (VIDEO)

At Breitbart, via Memeorandum, "Farage at CPAC: 2016 Was the Beginning of a Great Global Revolution."

L.A. Kauffman, Direct Action

Not to neglect my radical reading, heh...

Here's L.A. Kauffman, at Amazon, Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism.

And check out the excerpt, "In 1971, the People Didn’t Just March on Washington — They Shut It Down."

In 1971, the People Didn’t Just March on Washington — They Shut It Down, from DIRECT ACTION by @LAKauffman https://t.co/SBP8F5Np9O pic.twitter.com/AOCHJkMvZA

— Verso Books (@VersoBooks) February 26, 2017

President Trump Won't Attend White House Correspondents' Dinner (VIDEO)

Hey, sounds like a plan.

In fact, the whole thing's going to be a dud this year. A number of sponsors have cancelled after-parties, and what not -- like Bloomberg.

I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017

Added: At NPR, "Trump Will Be First President In 36 Years to Skip White House Correspondents Dinner."

George Rable, Damn Yankees!

Well, it's been a while since I've sparred with Stogie at Saber Point. Frankly, the dude's lost to the conspiracies of the Confederacy.

Heh, that whole Dylann Roof episode certainly was edifying. You see who's on the right side of history and all that.

In any case, I haven't come across this tome before, but it looks interesting. At Amazon, George Rable, Damn Yankees! Demonization and Defiance in the Confederate South.

And ICYMI, see Bruce Levine, The Fall of the House of Dixie: The Civil War and the Social Revolution That Transformed the South.

Natalie Portman's Post-Pregnancy Über Toplines

At Popoholic, "The Blond and Crazy Busty Natalie Portman is Back… Hoochie Mama!"

Shop Deals

*BUMPED."

At Amazon, Today's Deals.

Thanks for your support.

Here, KIND Breakfast Bars, Peanut Butter, Gluten Free, 1.8 Ounce, 32 Count.

Also, AmazonBasics Apple Certified Lightning to USB Cable - 6 Feet (1.8 Meters) - White.

Plus, Anders Stephanson, Manifest Destiny: American Expansion and the Empire of Right.

And, Amy S. Greenberg, Manifest Destiny and American Territorial Expansion: A Brief History with Documents.

Alan Taylor, Colonial America: A Very Short Introduction.

More, Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848.

Gordon C. Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815.

Still more, Robert M. Utley, Frontiersmen in Blue: The United States Army and the Indian, 1848-1865.

BONUS: Winston Groom, Kearny's March: The Epic Creation of the American West, 1846-1847.

Gregory D. Smithers, Native Diasporas

*BUMPED.*

Okay, keeping the balance between the mainstream frontier historians and the radical leftists, here's Gregory D. Smithers, Native Diasporas: Indigenous Identities and Settler Colonialism in the Americas.

PREVIOUSLY: Audra Simpson, Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States.