Book: A Young People's History of the United States • Volume 1
$16.95
BK-YPH-1
This is the re-telling of U.S. history from the viewpoints of slaves, workers, immigrants, women, Native Americans and others whose histories are rarely included in books for young people. Volume One begins with a loo at Christopher Columbus' arrival through the eyes of the Arawak Indians and leads the reader through the protests against imperialism during the Spanish-American War.
From the Introduction: "We all need heroes, people to admire, to see as examples of how human beings should live. But I prefer to see Bartolome de Las Casas as a hero, for exposing Columbus' violent behavior aganst the Indians he encountered in the Bahamas. I prefer to see the Cherokee Indians as heroes, for resisting their removal from the lands on which they lived. To me, it is Mark Twain who is a hero, because he denounced President Theodore Roosevelt after Roosevelt had praised an American general who had massacred hundreds of people in the Phillipines. I consider Helen Keller a hero because she protested against President Wilson's decision to send young Americans into the slaughterhouse of the First World War.
My point of view, which is critical of war, rascism and economic injustice, carries over to the situation we face in the United States today."
