Surviving Genocide in the American West: Native Nations and the United States from the Fur Trade Through the Civil War

A sweeping history of U.S. expansion west of the Mississippi through the end of the Civil War showing that American empire was built on systemic violence and genocide against Native nations

Reframing the United States' westward expansion as a continental empire-building project, historian Jeffrey Ostler shows how the country orchestrated a genocidal campaign against Indigenous populations across the Trans-Mississippi West through treaty coercion, massacres, forced removals, starvation, and the destruction of land and lifeways. As he debunks many long-standing myths, Ostler

Describes how genocide unfolded across diverse geographies and colonial histories in the Pacific Northwest, California, Texas, the Great Plans, the Southwest, and elsewhere
Documents the many forms of colonial violence beyond warfare that decimated populations in ways not always visible in traditional histories
Highlights Indigenous agency and resilience, from voices that illuminate the lived experience and consciousness of genocide to Native nations' diplomacy, resistance, and adaptation
Breaks new ground on the Civil War's western dimension and the ways that it intensified genocidal violence in the West, reshaping the region and Indigenous nations

This gripping history challenges myths of the "winning of the West" and illuminates Indigenous survival against overwhelming odds, making it essential reading for understanding America's past and its enduring legacies.