Podcasts about violent transformation

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Best podcasts about violent transformation

Latest podcast episodes about violent transformation

Ben Franklin's World
BFW Revisited: World of the Wampanoag, Pt. 2

Ben Franklin's World

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 26, 2024 52:20


This week is Thanksgiving week in the United States. On Thursday, most of us will sit down with friends, family, and other loved ones and share a large meal where we give thanks for whatever we're grateful for over the last year. In elementary school, we are taught to associate this holiday and its rituals with the religious separatists, or pilgrims, who migrated from England to what is today Plymouth, Massachusetts. We are taught that at the end of the fall harvest, the separatists sat down with their Indigenous neighbors to share in the bounty that the Wampanoag people helped them grow by teaching the separatists how to sow and cultivate crops like corn in the coastal soils of New England. In this BFW Revisited episode, Episode 291, we investigate the arrival of the Mayflower and the Indigenous world the separatists arrived in. We'll also explore how the Wampanoag and Narragansett peoples interacted with their new European neighbors and how they contended with the English people who were determined to settle on their lands. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/291 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Complementary Episodes Episode 104: The Saltwater Frontier: Native Americans and Colonsits on the Northeastern Coast Episode 132: Indigenous London Episode 184: Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America Episode 220: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of Slavery Episode 235: A 17th-Century Native American Life Episode 267: Snowshoe Country Episode 290: The World of the Wampanoag, Pt 1 Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin's World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

Ben Franklin's World
BFW Revisited: World of the Wampanoag, Pt. 1

Ben Franklin's World

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2024 48:37


It's November, the time of year when we Americans get ready for the Thanksgiving holiday. Although the federal holiday we know and honor today came about in 1863, Thanksgiving is a day that many modern-day Americans associate with the Indigenous peoples and religious separatists of Plymouth, Massachusetts. What do we know about the Indigenous people the so-called Pilgrims interacted with? This month, in between our new episodes about Indigenous history, the Ben Franklin's World Revisited series explores the World of the Wampanoag. The World of the Wampanoag originally posted as a two-episode series in December 2020. This first episode will introduce you to the life, societies, and cultures of the Wampanoag and Narragansett peoples the Plymouth colonists interacted with before the colonists' arrival in December 1620. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/290 Sponsor Links Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Mass Humanities National Endowment for the Humanities Omohundro Institute Complementary Episodes Episode 104: The Salwater Frontier: Native Americans and Colonists on the Northeastern Coast Episode 132: Indigenous London Episode 184: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America Episode 220: New England indians, Colonists, and the Origins of Slavery Episode 235: A 17th-Century Native American Life Episode 267: Snowshoe Country Episode 291: The World of the Wampanoag, Pt. 2   Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin's World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

Ben Franklin's World
291 The World of the Wampanoag, Part 2: 1620 and Beyond

Ben Franklin's World

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 15, 2020 55:25


Before New England was New England, it was the Dawnland. A region that remains the homeland of numerous Native American peoples, including the Wampanoag.  When the English colonists arrived at Patuxet 400 years ago, they arrived at a confusing time. The World of the Wampanoag people had changed in the wake of a destabilizing epidemic. This episode is part of a two-episode series about the World of the Wampanoag. In Episode 290, we investigated the life, cultures, and trade of the Wampanoag and their neighbors, the Narragansett, up to December 16, 1620, the day the Mayflower made its way into Plymouth Harbor. In this episode, our focus will be on the World of the Wampanoag in 1620 and beyond. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/291 Join Ben Franklin's World! Subscribe and help us bring history right to your ears! Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Mass Humanities National Endowment for the Humanities Complementary Episodes Episode 104: Andrew Lipman, The Saltwater Frontier: Native Americans and Colonists on the Northeastern Coast Episode 132: Coll Thrush, Indigenous London: Native Travelers at the Heart of Empire Episode 184: David J. Silverman, Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America Episode 220: Margaret Ellen Newell, New England Indians, Colonists, and Origins of Slavery Episode 235: Jenny Hale Pulsipher, A 17th-Century Native American Life  Episode 267: Thomas Wickman, Snowshoe Country   Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

Ben Franklin's World
290 The World of the Wampanoag, Part 1: Before 1620

Ben Franklin's World

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 8, 2020 46:53


Before New England was New England, it was the Dawnland. A region that remains the homeland of numerous Native American peoples, including the Wampanoag. Over the next two episodes, we’ll explore the World of the Wampanoag before and after 1620, a year that saw approximately 100 English colonists enter the Wampanoags’ world. Those English colonists have been called the “Pilgrims” and this year, 2020, marks the 400th anniversary of their arrival in New England. T he arrival of these English settlers brought change to the Wampanoags’ world. But many aspects of Wampanoag life and culture persisted, as did the Wampanoag who lived, and still live, in Massachusetts and beyond. In this episode, we’ll investigate the cultures, society, and economy of the Wampanoags’ 16th- and 17th-century world. This focus will help us develop a better understanding for the peoples, places, and circumstances of the World of the Wampanoag. This two-episode “World of the Wampanoag” series is made possible through support from Mass Humanities.  Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this episode do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/290 Join Ben Franklin's World! Subscribe and help us bring history right to your ears! Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Library of America, Plymouth Colony: Narratives of English Settlement and Native Resistance from the Mayflower to King Philip’s War Mass Humanities National Endowment of the Humanities Complementary Episodes Episode 104: Andrew Lipman, The Saltwater Frontier: Native Americans and Colonists on the Northeastern Coast Episode 132: Coll Thrush, Indigenous London: Native Travelers at the Heart of Empire Episode 184: David J. Silverman, Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America Episode 220: Margaret Ellen Newell, New England Indians, Colonists, and Origins of Slavery Episode 235: Jenny Hale Pulsipher, A 17th-Century Native American Life  Episode 267: Thomas Wickman, Snowshoe Country   Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter  

Ben Franklin's World
233 Gwenn Miller, A History of Russian America

Ben Franklin's World

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2019 48:19


When we think about colonial American history we think about the colonies of the English, the Dutch, the French, and the Spanish. Rarely do we think about the colonies of the Russians. And yet Russia had colonies in North America. Gwenn Miller, an Associate Professor of History at the College of the Holy Cross, joins us to investigate a history of Russia’s colonies in North America with details from her book Kodiak Kreol: Communities of Empire in Early Russian America. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/233 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Ben Franklin's World T-Shirts   Meet Ups & Talks Albany, New York: April 25 at the New York State Cultural Education Center. Meet up at pre-talk reception. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: April 29, 6pm at Zaffiro’s Pizza Milwaukee, Wisconsin: April 30, 6pm free public talk at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Golda Meir Library Complementary Episodes Episode 021: Eugene Tesdhal, Smuggling in Colonial America & Living History Episode 163: The American Revolution in North America Episode 184: David Silverman, Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America Episode 223: Susan Sleeper-Smith, A Native American History of the Ohio River Valley SUBSCRIBE! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter *Books purchased through the links on this post will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

Ben Franklin's World
223 Susan Sleeper-Smith, A Native American History of the Ohio River Valley & Great Lakes Region

Ben Franklin's World

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 29, 2019 67:10


During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Ohio River Valley proved to be a rich agrarian region. Many different Native American peoples prospered from its land both in terms of the the land’s ability to produce a wide variety of crops and its support of a wide variety of small fur-bearing animals for the fur trade. Susan Sleeper-Smith, a Professor of History at Michigan State University and author of Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women and the Ohio River Valley, 1690-1792, helps us explore this unique region and the important roles it played in the early American past. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/223   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Institute for Thomas Paine Studies Follow the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies on Twitter (@TheITPS)   Complementary Episodes Episode 029: Colin Calloway, The Native American Defeat of the First American Army Episode 051: Catherine Cangany, Frontier Seaport: A History of Early Detroit Episode 064: Brett Rushforth, Native American Slavery in New France Episode 088: Michael McDonnell, The History of History Writing Episode 102: William Nester, George Rogers Clark & the Fight for the Illinois Country Episode 162: Dunmore’s New World Episode 184: David Silverman, Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America   Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   *Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

Ben Franklin's World
199 Coll Thrush, Indigenous London: Native Travelers at the Heart of the Empire

Ben Franklin's World

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 14, 2018 39:53


When we explore the history of early America, we often look at people who lived in North America. But what about the people who lived and worked in European metropoles? What about Native Americans? We explore early American history through a slightly different lens, a lens that allows us to see interactions that occurred between Native American peoples and English men and women who lived in London. Our guide for this exploration is Coll Thrush, an Associate Professor of History at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and author of Indigenous London: Native Travelers at the Heart of the Empire. This episode originally posted as Episode 132. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/199   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute BFWorld Newsletter Signup   Complementary Episodes Episode 079: Jim Horn, What is a Historic Source? (Jamestown and Pocahontas) Episode 104: Andrew Lipman, The Saltwater Frontier Episode 170: Wendy Warren, New England Bound: Slavery in Early New England Episode 184: David J. Silverman, Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America Episode 191: Lisa Brooks, A New History of King Philip’s War     Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   *Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

Ben Franklin's World
197 Brett Rushforth, Native American Slavery in New France

Ben Franklin's World

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 31, 2018 56:53


When we think about early American slavery, our minds evoke images of plantations where enslaved men and women were forced to labor in agricultural fields and inside the homes of wealthy Americans. These images depict the practice of chattel slavery; a practice where early Americans treated slaves as property that they could buy, sell, trade, and use as they would real estate and draught animals. But, did you know that some early Americans practiced a different type of slavery? We investigate the practice of Native American or indigenous slavery, a little-known aspect of early American history, with Brett Rushforth, author of Bonds of Alliance: Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France. This episode originally published as Episode 064.   Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/197   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute BFWorld Newsletter Signup Bonds of Alliance: Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France (Listener-Only 40-Percent Discount Code 01BFW)   Complementary Episodes Episode 021: Eugene Tesdahl, Smuggling in Colonial America & Living History Episode 108: Ann Little, The Many Captivities of Esther Wheelright Episode 139: Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery: Indian Enslavement in the Americas Episode 170: Wendy Warren, New England Bound: Slavery in Early New England Episode 184: David J. Silverman, Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America     Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App

Ben Franklin's World
196 Alejandra Dubcovsky, Information Exchange in the Early Southeast

Ben Franklin's World

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 24, 2018 41:58


We live in an age of information. The internet provides us with 24/7 access to all types of information—news, how-to articles, sports scores, entertainment news, and congressional votes. But what do we do with all of this knowledge? How do we sift through and interpret it all? We are not the first people to ponder these questions. Today, Alejandra Dubcovsky, an Associate Professor at University of California Riverside and author of Informed Power: Communication in the Early South, takes us through the early American south and how the Native Americans, Europeans, and enslaved Africans who lived there acquired, used, and traded information. This episode originally published as Episode 082. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/196   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute BFWorld Newsletter Sign up   Complementary Episodes Episode 139: Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery: Indian Enslavement in the Americas Episode 168: Andrea Smalley, Wild By Nature: Colonists and Animals in North America Episode 171: Jessica Stern, Native Americans, British Colonists, and Trade in North America Episode 178: Karoline Cook, Muslims & Moriscos in Colonial Spanish America Episode 184: David J. Silverman, Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America   Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   *Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

Ben Franklin's World
184 David Silverman, Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America

Ben Franklin's World

Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2018 56:09


Early North America was a place rife with violent conflict. Between the 17th and 19th centuries we see a lot of conflict between different Native American peoples, Native American peoples and colonists, colonists from one empire versus colonists from another empire, settlers from one state quarreling with settlers from another state, and in the 19th century, we also see strife between Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans. Today, we’re going to explore some of the causes of the violent conflict that took place in early America by looking specifically at Native America and the ways Native Americans used guns to shape their lives and the course of North American colonial and indigenous history. Our guide for this exploration is David J. Silverman, a professor of history at George Washington University and the author of Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/184   Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute BFWorld Listener Survey   Complementary Episodes Episode 064: Brett Rushforth: Native American Slavery in New France Episode 104: Andrew Lipman, The Saltwater Frontier: Europeans and Native Americans along the Northeastern Coast Episode 163: The American Revolution in North America Episode 171: Jessica Stern, Native Americans, British Colonists, and Trade in North America   Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   *Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society
David J. Silverman, “Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America” (Harvard UP, 2016)

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2018 46:15


In Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016), David J. Silverman argues that Indian societies adopted firearm technology not because they were visually impressive or culturally significant (though they were both), but simply because they killed more efficiently. Using his concept of the “gun frontier,” Silverman, a professor of history at George Washington University, shows how contact between Natives and those Europeans willing to trade weapons for furs and other goods fundamentally altered the politics and power dynamics of a given region. Thundersticks draws on case studies from a broad sweep of time from the seventeenth to the mid-twentieth century, including the consolidation of Iroquois power, King Philip’s War, the otter fur trade in the Pacific Northwest, and the ascendency of the Blackfeet in the mountain west. Each story underscores the point that guns could both undermine colonial power as well as cause catastrophic conflict between Indian societies. Firearms changed Indian societies in innumerable ways, but when the gun trade lagged, so too did an individual polity’s power. Silverman’s book is a complicated, nuanced, look at how post-contact North America has long been a wildly interconnected place, and how it became a continent filled with blood and smoke. Stephen Hausmann is a doctoral candidate at Temple University and Visiting Instructor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently writing his dissertation, a history of race and the environment in the Black Hills and surrounding northern plains region of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Books in the American West
David J. Silverman, “Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America” (Harvard UP, 2016)

New Books in the American West

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2018 46:15


In Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016), David J. Silverman argues that Indian societies adopted firearm technology not because they were visually impressive or culturally significant (though they were both), but simply because they killed more efficiently. Using his concept of the “gun frontier,” Silverman, a professor of history at George Washington University, shows how contact between Natives and those Europeans willing to trade weapons for furs and other goods fundamentally altered the politics and power dynamics of a given region. Thundersticks draws on case studies from a broad sweep of time from the seventeenth to the mid-twentieth century, including the consolidation of Iroquois power, King Philip’s War, the otter fur trade in the Pacific Northwest, and the ascendency of the Blackfeet in the mountain west. Each story underscores the point that guns could both undermine colonial power as well as cause catastrophic conflict between Indian societies. Firearms changed Indian societies in innumerable ways, but when the gun trade lagged, so too did an individual polity’s power. Silverman’s book is a complicated, nuanced, look at how post-contact North America has long been a wildly interconnected place, and how it became a continent filled with blood and smoke. Stephen Hausmann is a doctoral candidate at Temple University and Visiting Instructor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently writing his dissertation, a history of race and the environment in the Black Hills and surrounding northern plains region of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Books in Native American Studies
David J. Silverman, “Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America” (Harvard UP, 2016)

New Books in Native American Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2018 46:15


In Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016), David J. Silverman argues that Indian societies adopted firearm technology not because they were visually impressive or culturally significant (though they were both), but simply because they killed more efficiently. Using his concept of the “gun frontier,” Silverman, a professor of history at George Washington University, shows how contact between Natives and those Europeans willing to trade weapons for furs and other goods fundamentally altered the politics and power dynamics of a given region. Thundersticks draws on case studies from a broad sweep of time from the seventeenth to the mid-twentieth century, including the consolidation of Iroquois power, King Philip’s War, the otter fur trade in the Pacific Northwest, and the ascendency of the Blackfeet in the mountain west. Each story underscores the point that guns could both undermine colonial power as well as cause catastrophic conflict between Indian societies. Firearms changed Indian societies in innumerable ways, but when the gun trade lagged, so too did an individual polity’s power. Silverman’s book is a complicated, nuanced, look at how post-contact North America has long been a wildly interconnected place, and how it became a continent filled with blood and smoke. Stephen Hausmann is a doctoral candidate at Temple University and Visiting Instructor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently writing his dissertation, a history of race and the environment in the Black Hills and surrounding northern plains region of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Books in History
David J. Silverman, “Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America” (Harvard UP, 2016)

New Books in History

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2018 46:15


In Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016), David J. Silverman argues that Indian societies adopted firearm technology not because they were visually impressive or culturally significant (though they were both), but simply because they killed more efficiently. Using his concept of the “gun frontier,” Silverman, a professor of history at George Washington University, shows how contact between Natives and those Europeans willing to trade weapons for furs and other goods fundamentally altered the politics and power dynamics of a given region. Thundersticks draws on case studies from a broad sweep of time from the seventeenth to the mid-twentieth century, including the consolidation of Iroquois power, King Philip’s War, the otter fur trade in the Pacific Northwest, and the ascendency of the Blackfeet in the mountain west. Each story underscores the point that guns could both undermine colonial power as well as cause catastrophic conflict between Indian societies. Firearms changed Indian societies in innumerable ways, but when the gun trade lagged, so too did an individual polity’s power. Silverman’s book is a complicated, nuanced, look at how post-contact North America has long been a wildly interconnected place, and how it became a continent filled with blood and smoke. Stephen Hausmann is a doctoral candidate at Temple University and Visiting Instructor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently writing his dissertation, a history of race and the environment in the Black Hills and surrounding northern plains region of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Books in American Studies
David J. Silverman, “Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America” (Harvard UP, 2016)

New Books in American Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2018 46:15


In Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016), David J. Silverman argues that Indian societies adopted firearm technology not because they were visually impressive or culturally significant (though they were both), but simply because they killed more efficiently. Using his concept of the “gun frontier,” Silverman, a professor of history at George Washington University, shows how contact between Natives and those Europeans willing to trade weapons for furs and other goods fundamentally altered the politics and power dynamics of a given region. Thundersticks draws on case studies from a broad sweep of time from the seventeenth to the mid-twentieth century, including the consolidation of Iroquois power, King Philip’s War, the otter fur trade in the Pacific Northwest, and the ascendency of the Blackfeet in the mountain west. Each story underscores the point that guns could both undermine colonial power as well as cause catastrophic conflict between Indian societies. Firearms changed Indian societies in innumerable ways, but when the gun trade lagged, so too did an individual polity’s power. Silverman’s book is a complicated, nuanced, look at how post-contact North America has long been a wildly interconnected place, and how it became a continent filled with blood and smoke. Stephen Hausmann is a doctoral candidate at Temple University and Visiting Instructor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently writing his dissertation, a history of race and the environment in the Black Hills and surrounding northern plains region of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Books Network
David J. Silverman, “Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America” (Harvard UP, 2016)

New Books Network

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2018 46:28


In Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016), David J. Silverman argues that Indian societies adopted firearm technology not because they were visually impressive or culturally significant (though they were both), but simply because they killed more efficiently. Using his concept of the “gun frontier,” Silverman, a professor of history at George Washington University, shows how contact between Natives and those Europeans willing to trade weapons for furs and other goods fundamentally altered the politics and power dynamics of a given region. Thundersticks draws on case studies from a broad sweep of time from the seventeenth to the mid-twentieth century, including the consolidation of Iroquois power, King Philip’s War, the otter fur trade in the Pacific Northwest, and the ascendency of the Blackfeet in the mountain west. Each story underscores the point that guns could both undermine colonial power as well as cause catastrophic conflict between Indian societies. Firearms changed Indian societies in innumerable ways, but when the gun trade lagged, so too did an individual polity’s power. Silverman’s book is a complicated, nuanced, look at how post-contact North America has long been a wildly interconnected place, and how it became a continent filled with blood and smoke. Stephen Hausmann is a doctoral candidate at Temple University and Visiting Instructor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently writing his dissertation, a history of race and the environment in the Black Hills and surrounding northern plains region of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices