Stolen Continents: 500 Years of Conquest and Resistance in the Americas | Ronald Wright | One of the best     books:     Stolen Continents:...   Stolen Continents: 500 Years of Conquest and Resistance in the Americas Ronald Wright Mariner Books, 2005 - 464 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image  for more information click here Powerful and passionate, Stolen Continents is a history of the Americas unlike any other. This incisive single-volume report tells the stories of the conquest and survival of five great American cultures ? Aztec, Maya, Inca, Cherokee, and Iroquois. Through their eloquent words, we relive their strange, tragic experiences ? including, in a new epilogue, incidents that bring us up to the twenty-first century. An interestingly different take on accepted history This is a great book, make no mistake. It is very easy to follow without dumbing down at all. The book looks at the histories of five peoples of North and South America since Columbus landed in 1492: these are the Aztec, Inca, Maya, Iroquois and Cherokee. The book is divided into three parts, namely 'Invasion', 'Resistance' and 'Rebellion'. Each part is then divided into five chapters, each detailing the role of each indigenous nation in each aspect (Invasion etc). Ronald wright has uncovered a variety of sources that are barely known, most probably because wherever possible he tried to cite native sources rather than European ones. His very valid point of view is that the people of European descent have been telling the stories for long enough and it's time the indigenous peoples should tell their own histories. The books covers ground most people are familiar with in terms of the history of the Americas; the 'conquests' of Mexico and Peru by Cortez and Pizarro in particular: but we hear it from the side of the Aztecs and Incas wherever possible. The fall of Tenochtitlan is particularly moving in the same way that the resistance of Manco Inca is particularly rousing. Where the book detracts from most other histories is that it openly states that the 'conquests' were and still are ongoing to varying degrees - it didn't all end after a few battles. The 'Resistance' part of the book is very interesting as it deals with the current day: how if Guatemala were truly democratic it would be a Mayan republic (no the Mayans didn't disappear); modern Peru is a shoddy European infrastructure built upon an abiding native base. The politics of contemporary USA and even more remarkably Canada leave a lot to be desired given the history of very recent rebellion (1990) of the Mohawk (part of the Iroquois Confederacy). This book is a very good introduction to someone wanting an alternative and perhaps more honest version of the history of parts of the Western Hemisphere over the last 500-odd years.  for more information click here One of the best Wright's focus on five native groups- following their history from European contact until the present day- is an ingenious technique, allowing him to serves to create a narrative which is both sweeping yet full of personal detail. The groups also illustrate the extraordinary diversity of indigenous America. As the subtitle indicates- Wright uses native sources as much as possible, uncovering some rare material- such as a dialogue between Aztec priests and the Catholic Spanish establishment. Iv'e read many works on Native history; this was unique in how it juxtaposed such seemingly diverse images; from Spanish friars burning Mayan manuscripts to the Cherokee developing their own script and newspapers through white influence...  for more information click here So What's New A reasonably straight relating of the remaining history of the rape of two continents. I found the Epilogue and the Afterword the most interesting parts of the book. It is unfortunate that the practises of the past are still being perpetrated by the governments of the various major powers products you might be interested in search for books 500 years of, americas, conquest, continents, resistance, stolen      geepe.com    web randomly chosen DVD: The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Beginning