Customer Reviews

Cycles of Conquest: The Impact of Spain, Mexico, and the United States on Indians of the Southwest, 1533-1960

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I could not rate this book as less than 4 stars simply because of its valuable historical content. However, if I were to rate it on pleasure it would get one star. I look at this text as a reference. Spicer's research is absolutely phenomenal and his detail is intense. It contains the programs of the Spanish, Mexicans, and Anglos to enculturate the Indians of the Southwestern United States. Each colonizing group had different methods of trying to assimilate the Indians and eached varied in their effectiveness. The history is important to view how cultural imperialism was a major factor of the colonization of the American Indians. They were viewed as less than human, as the case seems to always be in cases of racial prejudice. None of the three colonizing groups in this text practiced much cultural tolerance or respect. Their way was right and the Indians would become better by following it. In some cases it was to Christianize them, in other cases to change the organization of their tribes and villages. Reading this book is like reading a dictionary, but I am glad I have it in my collection