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Eric Beckman

ERBeckman@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 6 months ago

Anti-racist History Educator | Online Tutor

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Eric Beckman's books

Currently Reading

2024 Reading Goal

24% complete! Eric Beckman has read 6 of 25 books.

commented on Rediscovery of America by Ned Blackhawk

Ned Blackhawk: Rediscovery of America (2023, Yale University Press) 5 stars

The most enduring feature of U.S. history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most …

Blackhawk with some very relevant context for legislation in 1860s Arizona:

"Vast and uncharted, Arizona in 1864 had only a few white settlements...[T]he white population was only a fraction of the region's total population. Approximately six hundred white settlers ruled a territory that held thousands of ethnic Mexicans and untold numbers of tribal members. Other than the region's topography, place-names, and diversity of Indigenous communities, little from this era resembled Arizona of the twentieth century. Social, economic, and legal power became concentrated into the hands of settlers such as Woolsey and Arizona governor John Goodwin, both of whom advocated for the "extermination" of Indians...Hatred pervaded the region...

During the Civil War, territorial leaders, newspaper writers, and business leaders worked to maintain and harness the aggression. They drew upon discourses of manhood that carried expectations of martial defense, patriarchy, and racial solidarity. The Howell Code is full of provisions that upheld …

commented on Rediscovery of America by Ned Blackhawk

Ned Blackhawk: Rediscovery of America (2023, Yale University Press) 5 stars

The most enduring feature of U.S. history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most …

On the "ambiguity of Indian policy" in the early Republic: "Contradictory understandings fueled contradictory policies...the Constitution's opaque category of "Indians not taxed" excluded Native peoples from state representation and taxation. While ceding exclusive authority over Indian affairs to the federal government, the Constitution maintained the vagueness found in the Articles of Confederation which held that Indians "were not members of any states." Such ambiguity invited rancor...

Contradictory and competing ideas soon hardened into contradictory policies. Ultimately, Jefferson's "enemy...within our bowels" could be either assimilated or removed. While steeped in debates about he capacity of Indians to accept "civilization," both policies offered Native people little space for autonomy. Each in fact became prescriptions for violence. As the Republic obtained unexpected lands, arguments for removal and assimilation hardened into contrasting ideologies...

An "Indian problem" quickly came to define the early Republic. By the time of Jackson's inauguration in 1829, the federal government …

commented on Rediscovery of America by Ned Blackhawk

Ned Blackhawk: Rediscovery of America (2023, Yale University Press) 5 stars

The most enduring feature of U.S. history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most …

"The foundations of British authority in the interior were now crumbling. An emergent settler sovereignty had formed. Settlers used their own diplomatic reasoning, and collective violence to secure their goals and establish their legitimacy. Unleashed in the first year of Pontiac's War, such sovereignty hardened into a new political movement. It was both distinctive and growing, and it now targeted English soldiers. As one of Governor Penn's allies had blithely observed about his office's authority, 'There is no standing army to inforce its laws and support the government.'

Stopping interior trade, limiting the power of seaport elites, and driving Native peoples from the region formed the foundations of an emerging political culture in which negotiations were best conducted between armed parties.

The start of the fall of the British Empire in North America began on the Pennsylvania frontier, and it occured on March, 5, 1765, with [Black Boy leader] Smith's …

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Nicola Yoon: Everything, Everything (2015, Delacorte Press) 4 stars

The main character is a girl who is said to have a disease that stops …

Fast paced while simultaneously moving like a snail....but like in a good way

4 stars

So much happens!! The plot twist was pretty predictable but the writing makes it very easy to become invested. There were a few cringey bits, but overall it was decent! Extra points for a pretty cover:)

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For : White Spirit by Apache elder Judy Tallwing (b. 1945), 2012. Resin/silver/garnet/sterling/acrylic/copper/diamonds on canvas. From The American Visionary Art Museum's "The Secret Life of Earth" show in 2019.
BTW "Spirit Bear" aka "Ghost Bear" aka Moksgm'ol isn't a Polar Bear; it's a rare white morph (NOT albino) of Kermode Bear, subspecies of American Black Bear endemic to coastal . It's BC's official mammal & sacred to the region's peoples.

Jon Wilson: Chaos of Empire (2016, PublicAffairs) 5 stars

The popular image of the British Raj-an era of efficient but officious governors, sycophantic local …

Social History of British Governance in India

5 stars

This thoughtful book presents a social history of how people experienced British governance in India from the 17th through the 20th centuries. Wilson argues that this governance was never widely effective in shaping Indian society, but did, nonetheless, deeply affect the governed and the governors.

commented on Chaos of Empire by Jon Wilson

Jon Wilson: Chaos of Empire (2016, PublicAffairs) 5 stars

The popular image of the British Raj-an era of efficient but officious governors, sycophantic local …

In sum:

"In reality, the British proclaimed their strength and purpose when their authority seemed the most fragile. In fact, as we have seen in this book, British power in India was exercised sporadically. It was driven by a succession of short-term visceral passions. It did not have a systematic vision of peace and stability, nor a way of working able to produce order. It created chaos.

Rather than a coherent political vision, British rule in India was based on a peculiar form of power. Fearful and prickly from the start, the British saw themselves as virtuous but embattled conquerors whose capacity to act was continually under attack. From the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, they found it difficult to trust anyone outside the areas they controlled. Their response to challenge was to retreat or attack rather than to negotiate. The result was an anxious, paranoid regime. The British state …

commented on Chaos of Empire by Jon Wilson

Jon Wilson: Chaos of Empire (2016, PublicAffairs) 5 stars

The popular image of the British Raj-an era of efficient but officious governors, sycophantic local …

Before Partition: "Long before 1947, the social and political fabric of India was being divided. Depression, war and the failings of the Raj, were doing their work."

(p. 459). Kindle Edition.

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