Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States

October 15, 2024
Adapting a work of history as dense and as vital as Dunbar-Ortiz's An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (2014) to comics form is no easy feat, but Peart-Smith is up for the task. In fact, the subtitle, A Graphic Interpretation, is a much better term for what they've accomplished here than adaptation, for this is not merely a word-for-word medium change but an entire imagining of how the histories being told might be seen and felt. In dramatic full color, this comic traces the history of the American continent across centuries, making explicit the genocidal nature of the founding of the U.S. as both country and as idea. Most importantly, this is a history told from the perspectives of Indigenous peoples' past and present--people who, despite all violent and legal efforts, are still here--and does so without essentializing the experience, as if all Indigenous societies are "one thing." A thoughtful, radically hopeful work that is sure to resonate with readers of all ages.

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