Joseph Amato Local History Summary

After reading the Journals of both Robert Robe and Mary Stuart Bailey I have a better understanding of daily life, common struggles, and attitudes during the 1850’s while traveling westward. Robert Robe’s journal begins in May of 1851 and continues into June. Mary’s Journal starts April 13, 1852 with the last entry on November 8th. These journals clearly highlight the stresses that were developed during there travels. The traveler’s attitudes changed circumstantially as the uncertainty of their future unfolded, depending on the day they could be admiring god’s beauty, determined on surviving, or mourning the loss of their previous life, family, and home (Text 386, 387).

Her book, Iowa the Middle Land discusses how Iowa and everything relating to it, is in the middle. She explains her arguments thoroughly using Iowa’s history to back up her points. She divided her book into three sections to help explain the transitions of Iowa’s history. In each section, she has different chapters to break it down further; this is an effective way to promote her arguments.

In writing A Voyage Long and Strange, Tony Horwitz’s goal is clear, to educate others on early America and debunk ignorant myths. Horwitz’s reason for wanting to achieve this goal is because of his own ignorance that he sees while at Plymouth Rock. “Expensively educated at a private school and university- a history major, no less!-I’d matriculated to middle age with a third grader’s grasp of early America.” Horwitz is disappointed in his own lack of knowledge of his home country, especially with his background history and decides not only to research America’s true beginnings, but to also follow the path of those who originally yearned to discover America.

Ray Owen, of Prairie Island Indian Community, 2010 Mni Sota, states that according to the oral histories of many of those who live in Minnesota, these areas have been Dakota homeland for thousands of years. " Even today, you live in the United States of Dakota. All of this is Dakota Territory." (1) Mni Sota, micoke – Dakota translation as ‘home of the cloud tinted waters’, Minnesota - known by North Americans as the ‘Land of 10,000 Lakes’, lies at the northern end of the Mississippi River and the westernmost point of the inland waterway that extends through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean.

Native Americans who emigrated from Europe perceived the Indians as a friendly society with whom they dwelt with in harmony. While Native Americans were largely intensive agriculturalists and entrepreneurial in nature, the Indians were hunters and gatherers who earned a livelihood predominantly as nomads. By the 19th century, irrefutable territories i.e. the areas around River Mississippi were under exclusive occupation by the Indians. At the time, different Indian tribes such as the Chickasaws, Creeks, and Cherokees had adapted a sedentary lifestyle and practiced small-scale agriculture. According to the proponents of removal, the Indians were to move westwards into forested lands in order to generate additional space for development through agricultural production (Memorial of the Cherokee Indians).

For me, the one whom I loved, all the memories I had with that person is history, but I doubt other people will call it history. It is all about subjectivity. I do not think the author really wanted to say that a blankness of things has no history, but actually the opposite by asking, “what is history?” The fact that Kincaid’s ironic and somewhat self-mocking approach made me reflect on my own perception of history from the very start demonstrates that her method is indeed effective. After demonstrating a large number of barely justified assumptions about historical characters and her general investigative naiveté, the author goes a step further by providing some extremely simplistic descriptions of landscape.

History is a novel idea that has been a continuous idea throughout our time in class. We have gone over what history means to us, the students; as well as the authors and filmmakers we have studied. For me, before this class, History merely meant what we

Historians who practice historiography agree that the writings from the beginning of what is now known as the United States of America can be translated various ways. In James H. Merrell’s “The Indians’ New World,” the initial encounters and relationships between various Native American tribes and Europeans and their African American slaves are explained; based on Merrell’s argument that after the arrival of Europeans to North America in 1492, not only would the Europeans’ lives drastically change, but a new world would be created for the Native Americans’ as their communities and lifestyles slowly intertwined for better or worse. Examples of these changes include: “deadly bacteria, material riches, and [invading] alien people.” (Merrell 53)

Lee expertly weaves the chronological tale of Almarine Cantrell’s life, death, and subsequent family lineage through a variety of distinctly crafted personalities, all adding to the narrative through their unique perspectives. While Almarine’s romantic hardships and resulting offspring are at the heart of the novel, Oral History also explores Appalachian life through a myriad of lenses, preconceived notions, actualities, and the exploration of traditions and daily life. Smith offers a rich and complex study of an often forgotten about southern geographical region and population. The narrative rarely drags, drawing the reader into an exciting tale of Appalachia that includes folklore, storytelling, a strong sense of the past, and a continuation into the present that attempts to reconcile what was with what the mountain region has become (Eckard

Feige's goal is not only to explain how exactly American History is rooted in nature, but also to stress the presence of nature in historical events that is often overlooked or entirely ignored by other historians. Throughout the book, the reader is made clear this is Feige’s primary goal of the text, demonstrating the importance of environmental history of the United States and prove that nature’s role in America’s past is more vast and influential than what is thought. Fiege continuously explains how historical events are sometimes entirely shaped by nature and proves so by exploring the geography, topography, weather, disease spread, and other features occurring in nature and how they

Name Professor Course Date Book Review: Everyday Life in Early America The book ‘Everyday Life in Early America’ by David Hawke provides a comprehensive account of the history of early settlers in America. It maintains that the geographic concept including the physical environment is a chief factor that influences the behavior of individuals. The author assumes that early settlers came to America in the hope of taking forward their customs and traditions while starting afresh in a foreign land.

Trouillot helps us grasp the idea that it is important to know that the most honest historians will try to tell the story as accurately as possible from the data. At the same time, many parts of the past get “silenced”, being forgotten about, pushed aside or passed over. Trouillot gives beneficial information that can be applied to our own studies about how this selective “silencing”

While reading the book, Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma, I learned a great deal about early Indian life, in a way I had not before. Of course, in grade school you learn about “Pocahontas” but not in the way Camilla Townsend describes her. I started this book not really knowing what to expect besides to learn more than I had previously known. I know recently a lot about history has come up for discussion in ways it has never before. Native Americans and Africa Americans have been a topic of discussion for the past few years, shedding light on their history.

Have you ever thought about the phrase “American History” and wondered the real stories that occurred in an individual from the past? Several other citizens of America have, too. The simple answer to the meaning of the title “American History” written by Judith Ortiz Cofer purports that said story illustrates the history of an American citizen and revolves around a significant event from the past. However, the overall message become larger than the straightforward idea. While educating readers on the time placed during President Kennedy's death in 1963, the author illustrates the struggling truth behind the story of an average young individual American immigrant girl in a plethora of ways.

In his article “ The Limits Of Authenticity, Ben Yacobi talked about the limits of authenticity and its challenges. He talked about it by giving examples and long old history of philosophers to prove his point. Unfortunately, his over long illustrations fall apart. His essay is not appealing because it does not connect with the audience with its over long and complicated examples. Length of his essay is too long to be focused on the point he is trying to prove with redundant examples.