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Genocide of California Indians

This book is the first comprehensive history of the genocide of California Native Americans between 1846 and 1873. During this period, the population of California Indians declined from around 150,000 to 30,000 as a result of violence sanctioned by state and federal governments. The author provides extensive evidence of the direct involvement of officials, taxpayer funding of attacks, and broad societal support. He also evaluates why the killings constituted genocide and how the methods used could be applied to study other possible genocides in North America and beyond. The book raises fundamental questions about how the history of California and the United States is understood and taught.

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278 views1 page

Genocide of California Indians

This book is the first comprehensive history of the genocide of California Native Americans between 1846 and 1873. During this period, the population of California Indians declined from around 150,000 to 30,000 as a result of violence sanctioned by state and federal governments. The author provides extensive evidence of the direct involvement of officials, taxpayer funding of attacks, and broad societal support. He also evaluates why the killings constituted genocide and how the methods used could be applied to study other possible genocides in North America and beyond. The book raises fundamental questions about how the history of California and the United States is understood and taught.

Uploaded by

gjaramillov
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Recently Published by Yale University Press

An American Genocide
The United States and the California
Indian Catastrophe

Benjamin Madley 
 
The first full account of the government-sanctioned
genocide of California Indians under United States rule

Between 1846 and 1873, California’s Indian population plunged


from perhaps 150,000 to 30,000. Benjamin Madley is the first
historian to uncover the full extent of the slaughter, the
involvement of state and federal officials, the taxpayer dollars
that supported the violence, indigenous resistance, who did the
killing, and why the killings ended. This deeply researched book
is a comprehensive and chilling history of an American genocide.
Madley describes pre-contact California and precursors to the
genocide before explaining how the Gold Rush stirred vigilante
violence against California Indians. He narrates the rise of a
state-sanctioned killing machine and the broad societal, judicial,
and political support for genocide. Many participated: vigilantes,
volunteer state militiamen, U.S. Army soldiers, U.S. congressmen,
California governors, and others. The state and federal govern-
ments spent at least $1,700,000 on campaigns against California
Indians. Besides evaluating government officials’ culpability,
Madley considers why the slaughter constituted genocide and Benjamin Madley is assistant professor of
how other possible genocides within and beyond the Americas
history, University of California, Los Angeles,
might be investigated using the methods presented in this where he focuses on Native America, the United
groundbreaking book. States, and genocide in world history. He lives in
Los Angeles, CA.
●●●

"Madley has far exceeded previous scholarship in making a ISBN 978-0-300-18136-4


persuasive case for concluding that what happened to $38.00
California Indians from 1846 to 1873 qualifies as genocide."
–Jeffrey Ostler (University of Oregon), author of
The Plains Sioux and U.S. Colonialism from Lewis and Clark Available at bookstores,
to Wounded Knee through online booksellers,
or by calling Triliteral Customer
“An American Genocide raises fundamental questions about how Service at 1-800-405-1619.
Californians and Americans think of themselves and tell their
history. . . . An American Genocide provides a powerful tool for
historians and Native peoples—including those who are the
25% off at yalebooks.com
descendants of genocide survivors—to challenge the founding with code YEAAG
myths of California and United States history.”—Nicolas R.
Rosenthal, Southern California Quarterly

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