Looking for a good read? Here is a recommendation. I have an unusual approach to reviewing books. I review books I feel merit a review. Each review is an opportunity to recommend a book. If I do not think a book is worth reading, I find another book to review. You do not have to agree with everything every author has written (I do not), but the fiction I review is entertaining (and often thought-provoking) and the non-fiction contain ideas worth reading.
Book Review
The Truth Behind the Settling of the Americas
Reviewed by Mark Lardas
Decemer 10, 2023
“Not Stolen: The Truth About European Colonialism in the New World,” by Jeff Fynn-Paul, Bombardier Books, 2023, 412 pages, $35.00 (Hardcover), $23.00 (Paperback), $12.99 (E-book)
Those listening to academics and the mainstream media could easily believe Europe’s colonization of the Americas was an unmitigated evil. That the United States has foundations of genocide and theft, and peaceful natives were dispossessed by rapacious Europeans.
“Not Stolen: The Truth About European Colonialism in the New World,” by Jeff Fynn-Paul reveals this as a lie. Fynn-Paul shows how the historical record has been manipulated to create false conclusions about settler-native relations in the Americas.
The book has three major parts. The first examines the nature of the Europeans coming to America and their relationship with the natives. The second looks at the native peoples of America including their civilizations and relationships with each other. The third examines the displacement of Native Americans in the United States.
The first section explodes modern myths about the genocidal nature of the European settlement. Fynn-Paul reveals there was more assimilation between Europeans and Natives than we currently believe today. Native and Europeans worked together cooperatively. The “vanishing Indian” most often intermarried into and became part of a common culture.
The second exposes the myth of the peaceful, communal Native American, with enlightened civilizations at one with nature as a lie. The indigenous inhabitants of the Americas were as rapacious and environmentally abusive as their European cousins. Their civilizations were about 2000 years less advanced than European, on par with those of the Ancient Babylonians or Egyptians.
The third shows how Native Americans and Europeans built a mutually-beneficial society. Up through 1820 90% of the land acquired by Europeans was gained through purchase. Europeans and Indians fought wars with each other, but these were exceptions. Further, the wars waged between Indian and Indian were both more frequent and more violent than those between European and Indian.
He also shows those advancing these false narratives are deeply unserious people. Few of those most prominent in advancing these new theories are trained historians. Their backgrounds are frequently in sociology, anthropology and literature, and behave as if metaphor drives reality. He shows how they have reached a conclusion in advance and cherry-pick facts to fit, discarding any that contradict their pre-determined conclusion.
“Not Stolen” is a welcome rebuttal to today’s conventional narrative about European influence on the Americas. In a sense it is a 21st century version of “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds,” illustrating how popular intellectual fads can crowd out the facts.
Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City. His website is marklardas.com.
