Native Peoples of North America

De: Daniel M. Cobb, The Great Courses

Narrado por: Daniel M. Cobb

History, for all its facts and figures, names and dates, is ultimately subjective. You learn the points of view your teachers provide, the perspectives that books offer, and the conclusions you draw yourself based on the facts you were given. Hearing different angles on historical events gives you a more insightful, accurate, and rewarding understanding of events - especially when a new viewpoint challenges the story you thought you knew.

Now the Great Courses has partnered with Smithsonian to bring you a course that will greatly expand your understanding of American history. This course, Native Peoples of North America, pairs the unmatched resources and expertise of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian with the unparalleled knowledge of Professor Daniel M. Cobb of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to provide a multidisciplinary view of American history, revealing new perspectives on the historical and contemporary experiences of indigenous peoples and their impact on the history of our country.

This insightful and unique 24-lecture course helps disprove myths and stereotypes that many people take as fact. Professor Cobb presents a different account of the Seven Years' War, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Gold Rush, the Transcontinental Railroad, and beyond, providing the stories of the American Indian people who fought and negotiated to preserve their ancestral lands.

Native Peoples of North America recounts an epic story of resistance and accommodation, persistence and adaption, extraordinary hardship and survival across more than 500 years of colonial encounter. As the Smithsonian curators stated, "The past never changes. But the way we understand it, learn about it, and know about it changes all the time." Be prepared - this course is going to change how you understand American history. And no matter how much you know about this subject, you will be surprised.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2016 The Great Courses (P)2016 The Teaching Company, LLC

OK, but misleading title

The author apparently doesn't know what North America is. But the book is not bad overall.

SUBJECT: It focuses quite a bit on government relations with tribes, including various legal and diplomatic issues. Art, culture, music, language, etc are mentioned, but if these are your main interest, this is not the book for you.

TIME: The time span is essentially European contact through the present. There is not much about pre-contact life on the front end. And on the back end, whereas some books on this topic might choose to end with 1890, in this book 1890 is about the midpoint. There is significant focus on more recent history.

PLACE: Despite the title, it is exclusively about the USA (and predecessor colonies), mentioning Canada and Mexico only when events overlap the border. It is mostly about the lower 48 states of the USA, with some mentions of Alaska, and perhaps one passing mention of Hawaii.

NARRATOR: The narrator is good enough. I lost focus and had to back up a few times, but probably due to the dry subject, not specifically the narrator's style.

SUMMARY: Overall I am glad I chose it, but I can't give it a 5 star rave review.

Good information, but hateful undertones

To date, I have yet to listen to anything from the great courses that have been decent, and this is about the same quality as the bible lady I heard. I hear these words, "invasion", "slaughtered". From the way, he is talking it sounds like the Europeans planned to kill all the natives, and I never agreed with that. Small Pox killed 90% of the Native population. Even if the Europeans hadn't colonized the west, the Natives wouldn't have survived with so many dead. And that wasn't done on purpose, that was just life. Disease happens. When the fur trade started, and the west wanted furs, they gave guns to the natives and agreed to pay a LOT for furs. The natives went and got the furs. When they ran out of furs they started killing themselves to get the furs. That isn't racist to say, that is just the truth. The natives weren't perfect people that lived a perfect life and never sinned. And the Europeans weren't evil terrible people with a plan to kill innocent people because they could. And to draw such a black and white line is to MASSIVELY oversimplify history.

I have been looking for this kind of "information"

Excellent. Much much more than I could have hoped for. Have gained many new perspectives, and yes, I will be spending more time learning. I will return to listen to these lectures again and will share them with my friends. Thank You.

One of the best lessons in North American Indigenous History. Highly recommended for anyone seeking better understanding of the rich history and cultures of Native Peoples.

Social Justice Jamboree

What did you like best about Native Peoples of North America? What did you like least?

I'm a huge fan of the Great Courses, and have quite a few in my Audible library. Most of the time they are informative, illuminating, and go into great detail about the subject at hand. This one, however, was light on the actual knowledge and substance that makes this series so great, and instead, focused on "redefining the narrative" of the history of Native Americans.There is no doubt that Native Americans have experienced numerous travesties (often horrific ones) at the hands of outsiders and between themselves, and those should be articulated and expressed in the history books. However, any historian should take note to remain objective as possible while describing these historical events. It is clear by the poignant and biased language of the author that he has a clear agenda of portraying Europeans in a particular way in order to justify his redefinition of the cultural narratives around this subject. At the same time, the author tends to put Native American cultures on a pedestal, and romanticizes certain aspects of their culture.

Would you ever listen to anything by The Great Courses again?

The Great Courses are usually amazing, just this one was highly politicized and came with a good amount of agenda. I was expecting a history of the native Americans beginning with the trek out of Asia, over the Bering straight, and into the Americas, and then moving through history, while addressing their culture. Instead, the author focuses on the arrival of Europeans and the evils they brought with them to the new world.

Did Native Peoples of North America inspire you to do anything?

Look for another Great Course to download

Excellent Native Historical Perspective

I have lifelong friends who are reservation Indians. This is their story. The lectures are well organized and well delivered.

Mixed review

Listened attentively to the course. As Someone who grew up around large groups of native peoples, I struggled with the emphasis on injustice. I know first hand how poorly they were treated. I wanted to hear more about the successful and innovative people I love, who happen to be very Native. There is more to natives than gaming and the arts...

Mostly great overview, mostly USA

This is an excellent overview, although I wanted more about Mexican and Canadian Native Peoples. This really does tell the story fairly strongly, although it is a but dry. It's very much like a textbook and I think there are PDFs available which would be quite helpful. They use the term Indians which some people object to, but it makes sense here

Some of this I've known for a long time, some like when US soldiers gave smallpox infected blankets to some tribes, I hadn't known until recently. Indigenous Peoples around the World have suffered at the hands of others - Europeans here of course.

The mistreatment of our Native Peoples has not ended. The Keystone Pipeline is evidence of how much our government and corporations have screwed these people. We as a society need to do better. This book really gives a good overview.

A very pleasant listen

Mr. Cobb made this course very easy and pleasing to listen to. The information, for me, was very informative and enlightening.

Need to be taught in every school

This history, along with that of the system of slavery & the forging of this new place called the United States of America. Should be taught in an open an unbiased way in all high school curriculum