Book Review: Blood on the River by Elisa Carbone

This book is quite awful. It is full of racism, myths, stereotypes, and misinformation. None of the resources she used for the book are from or by Native peoples and she recommends several problematic books in the end for further reading.

What shocked me the most was how many times she uses the word “savage” throughout the book….not even just in the context of the English saying the word, but simply using it as a descriptor of Natives. Much of the cultural information about the Native nations in the area was made up. For example she describes some of them as not even wearing shirts in the winter, which doesn’t even make sense. Her descriptions of them make them seem dumb, primitive, simplistic, and unable to figure out if their trade was good or bad. They enthusiastically accept trinkets as trades as if they don’t understand the value of anything. The stereotypes throughout are things we are constantly battling as Natives and some of us as educators.

In the author notes at the end of the book she indicates that some things are thought to be completely false by historians, yet she used them anyway. This includes the Carib cannibal myth and the Pocahontas myths. The way the Natives speak is reminiscent of old western “Indian speak” that makes them sound mystical in the way they describe things. Then there’s the myth of “empty land for the taking” and claims that none of the “Indians” were using it. It also states that Smith’s writing about Jamestown are some of the best records we have, but as it turns out…his writings amount to barely more than him writing his own fan fiction. He made up a lot of it or exaggerated things to make himself look better. This book depicts him as a great guy who wanted to avoid conflict.

Honestly this was one of the grossest books I’ve read in a long time. I believe this book was intended to try to show this time period from “both sides,” but it fails miserably. I understand the desire for chapter books on these subjects from different perspectives, but this book is very racist and perpetuates seriously harmful stereotypes. I do not recommend using this book. Unfortunately, I cannot offer any alternatives at this time, as many books written about this time period are almost as bad as this one.