From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (misc.activism.progressive co-moderator)
Subject: 3RD WORLD RESOURCES V8N3 -- BOOKS: >>COLUMBUS<<
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 01:36:42 GMT

        The following is from the quarterly magazine, THIRD WORLD
        RESOURCES: A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF RESOURCES FROM AND ABOUT THE THIRD
        WORLD; subscriptions to the 24-page hardcopy edition are $35/year
        (organizations) and $35/two years (individuals). For rates outside
        North America, write to: Third World Resources, 464 19th Street,
        Oakland, CA 94612-2297 USA. See also their conference `twr.nl' on
        PeaceNet, or email to tfenton@igc.org (Tom Fenton)
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Topic 123       BOOKS, 8:3 - 1992       Response  7 of 16 
tfenton 
twr.nl  11:09 am  Jul  8, 1992 
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***<DANGEROUS MEMORIES: INVASION AND RESISTANCE SINCE 1492.>  
Renny Golden, et al. Chicago Religious Task Force on Central  
America, 59 E. Van Buren, Rm. 1400, Chicago, IL 60605. 1991.  
272 pp. Oversized. ISBN 0-9631026-0-5. Bibliographies,  
illustrations, list of resources. 

"It has always been my experience that truth is mostly  
brutal," Native American Marilyn James writes in her  
Foreword to <Dangerous Memories.> "You readers," James says,  
"will no doubt find many of the following accounts of white  
history brutal." Well, she concludes, white men <were>  
brutal and we had better summon up the courage to face that  
fact and "to teach and embrace historical truth instead of  
the white historical perspective" on U.S. history. 

This attractive, oversized textbook is the place to begin  
the search for <historical truth> about the past 500 years  
of bloodshed and resistance since the arrival of Columbus.  
Five educators and political activists have compiled a  
passionate and exceptional historical sourcebook of  
readings, documentation, and teaching strategies to assist  
anyone who has the courage to leave "the comfort zone"  
(James's apt phrase) and to reclaim the history of the past  
500 years. 

The book consists of three chapters--Invasion, Resistance,  
and Culture--and a concluding 47-page section of teaching  
strategies. The first chapter describes the violent and  
warring countries of Europe before the conquest and then  
paints a portrait of the mosaic of cultures in the Western  
Hemisphere at the same time. The chapter closes with graphic  
depictions of the conquest and its consequences. 

The second chapter offers examples of resistance by African  
Americans and by indigenous peoples throughout the Americas.  
It closes with a brief look at "resistance today" in the  
rainforests of South America. The third chapter contrasts  
"the white way" and "the native way" and makes the point  
that the cultural war begun by the Europeans in 1492 has  
never ended. 

The Teaching Strategies section of <Dangerous Memories>  
provides educators with an assortment of maps, charts,  
suggested readings, and discussion questions, as well as  
innovative group activities (e.g., a mock genocide trial and  
a "Meet the Press" program). 
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive