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

Could be much better

I find the presentation to be very poor. I prefer to be spoken to, rather than laboriously read to. The reading was slow, pedantic, and boring, not to mention poorly edited. Everyone makes mistakes while speaking or reading, but surely the mistakes could be edited out, especially as the narrator went right back to his script. I found myself wondering who the presentation was written for, as surely university level students do not have to have the Cold War explained to them. I was hoping for more information on who the various tribes were/are, rather than having them presented as monolithic and with all beliefs and cultures mashed together as if there were no differences among them. More anthropology and less blaming would be welcome.

Amazing insight

This Great courses lecture series was a fascinating look into the struggles of the multitude of Native Peoples of the Americas. How they have worked to gain respect and sovereignty from colonization.

Comprehensive yet engaging

The breadth and depth was amazing. Yet the narrator was able to offer individual anecdotes to bring the proper perspective. The timeline of course was fo challenging but reference points were offered as well. I dare say readers will want to explore specific individuals and events for deeper context. Really impressive work, impressively and movingly presented!

More History I Didn’t Know

This lecture series relates more history that I hadn’t been previously exposed to, and that more people should know. A little more editing would have made it even better. Recommended in any case.

Wonderful look at Native People

A wonderful and insightful look at Native Peoples and Cultures of North America. I wish it had broadened to other tribes not covered in this course, but I understand that many cultures may not have the depth of knowledge we have on the well known tribes.

Informative, tragic, and awakening

Cobb does a great job providing an overview of how Native Americans have been a part of the North American history and societal development, from the perspective of the colonists/settlers, but especially from the various Native peoples. What stands out the most is how often the Native Americans tried to negotiate some sort of stable compromise and peace with the ever encroaching settlers. They used treaties, diplomatic negotiations, and the judicial courts to find compromise, justice, and recourse. Unfortunately, the reality is that their perspective, culture practices, and lives were not respected, leading to many tragic outcomes; but also demonstrating the strength and resilience of the Native peoples.

covers only part of the native American story

These lectures covered in great detail the relations between native Americans and the non-native people. I learned a lot, particularly form the perspective of the indigenous people. The indigenous peoples' perspective is usually given short shrift in popular history, so these lectures are important in presenting that point of view. The lectures, however, were not intended to be, and were not, objective in this respect. Overall, very well presented and for me, new information and perspective.

I thought that the course description was misleading. I expected the lectures to cover Indian family life, the differences between tribes and the evolution thereof, the various ways of obtaining sustenance, the various religions, social and political structure, migrations, housing, relations between the tribes, artistic expression, technological development, languages and language groups. None of this was touched on, except in the context of and for the purpose of explaining native-non-native relations. I guess these topics are for another lecture series.

About the struggle, not the peoples

What I was hoping for was to gain an understanding of the distinctions of various Native American groups. There is precious little coverage of the substance of particular native cultures. (The part covering the Iroquois is closest to what I was hoping for, but it still just scratches the surface.)

Author gives a good chronological overview of the past 500 years through native perspectives, which has its benefits. (Like getting to see how taking sides in the Revolution effected the Iroquois, for example.)

And now the rant:
It is preachy. Too preachy. Polemic. Moralizing. One-sided. Condescending toward people in history who probably did the same things we would do in their shoes, without really addressing the nuances of their motivations so we can examine the roots of their injustices in our own hearts. Instead it leaves us feeling better than them - like we’re definitely more enlightened.

Makes some good points (like the key part of “reservation” is “reserve” - they are something held back by right, not given by government).

Still I feel like I didn’t learn much about the different tribes themselves and their unique histories and cultures, which is really the gap in my knowledge I was hoping to fill with this course.

Excellent content, solid delivery.

The lecture series was informative and led me to other quality sources of information on indigenous peoples and their ways of life.

The narrator's performance was good on the whole but not perfect.

Highly informative!

This audiobook helped make the familiar stories I've heard of native American culture seem unfamiliar, from the perspective of about 500 Indian cultures subjected to 500 years of colonial encounters. It saddens me to learn of the reference to the savagery of native Americans in our 1776 Declaration of Independence.