Book Review - Lakota America - A New History of Indigenous Power

Title: Lakota America - A New History of Indigenous Power
Author: Pekka Hamalainen
My Rating: 👍👍👍👍
My Review: I am an absolute fan of books on Native Americans. This book is a fire hose of information and details about Native American tribes from early 16th century to present. As such, it became a little overwhelming. I especially enjoyed the later chapters that described first encounters with white Europeans and the evolution of the various Native American tribes. Overall, I enjoyed this book but would only recommend it to people who really want to learn more about Native Americans.

 
Description (Audible): This first complete account of the Lakota Indians traces their rich and often surprising history from the early 16th to the early 21st century. Pekka Hämäläinen explores the Lakotas' roots as marginal hunter-gatherers and reveals how they reinvented themselves twice: first as a river people who dominated the Missouri Valley, America's great commercial artery, and then - in what was America's first sweeping westward expansion - as a horse people who ruled supreme on the vast high plains. The Lakotas are imprinted in American historical memory. Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull are iconic figures in the American imagination, but in this groundbreaking book they emerge as something different: the architects of Lakota America, an expansive and enduring Indigenous regime that commanded human fates in the North American interior for generations. Hämäläinen's deeply researched and engagingly written history places the Lakotas at the center of American history, and the results are revelatory.

Description (ChatGPT): Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power reimagines the story of the Lakota people, flipping the script on traditional narratives to reveal a history of resilience, resistance, and sovereignty. With sharp insights and compelling storytelling, this book doesn't just tell the Lakota story — it empowers it, offering a fresh lens on the fight for land, culture, and identity. It’s history, but not as you’ve ever heard it before.