As disturbing as the subject can sometimes be, these days I frequently yearn to be an expert in the history of the native people who first inhabited this place we call the United States of America. Though the subject was always of interest, my fantasy took a firm hold in 2011, soon after I finished James Loewen's mind blowing book Lies My Teacher Told Me (1995). Since then, the novels of Native American authors like Louise Erdrich & Tommy Orange - among others - and historical powerhouses like The Trail of Tears (Gail Jahoda, 1975) and Killers of the Flower Moon (David Grann, 2017) have helped turn my fascination with this complicated slice of history into something bordering on an obsession.
The many disparate pieces I've picked up over my fourteen-year journey are satisfying. But, at times, those pieces each feel like an individual swatch of fabric. The expert I fantasize about being would be able to assemble them all into a quilt. All that's needed is a second lifetime. Anybody able to help me with that?
Thanks for sharing your journey, Pat. I may have read some Native American literature you haven't and will get back to you on this. Also, did you know that there is a Road Scholar trip that takes travelers to Native American villages, etc. in the southwest? Because I live in the SW, I've experienced some special Native American places.
ReplyDelete"Anonymous"; Thanks for the comment. I'll look forward to hearing about the literature you think I might be unfamiliar with.
DeleteGreat topic Pat. I tried to come up with a time and place to return to but I always end up with a city mouse/country mouse sense that I wouldn't be able to adapt to certain privations that go along with the past that I'm interested in--i.e. indoor plumbing, etc. But--if I had to, I'd go to England, the countryside in the Victorian Era.
ReplyDeleteForgot to put my name!
DeleteHey Regina; Thanks for the comment. I can see you in Victorian Era England. Maybe you could figure out a way to transport the necessary parts to construct a flushing toilet? How about stealing that HG Wells contraption to help you?
DeleteHey Pat ... I have always been interested in the settling of this country - from the first settlers, through the Revolutionary War, and up to the Civil War and the aftermath. Granted, a very disturbing time as more and more information has become available, but from when I first started learning about it in elementary school up to taking American History courses in college it was time period that always fascinated me. Again, the more that is learned about these times makes it more and more difficult to understand, but it also has provided new things to learn and to learn from.
ReplyDeleteBe well,
Bob
Bob; I made it to the end zone, i.e., my response to the last of your comments today. I share your fascination with the history attached to how the U.S. was "founded". The more I learn of Native American history, the more convinced I become that the word "founded" belongs in quotes, or at least, needs to be qualified. The way most of us learned American history has some serious gaps, in my view.
Delete