Good River Of Dark Dreams By Sir Walter Johnson Book Review Example

Introduction

The global struggle on economic stability has been very rampant during the 15th-20th century. And even up to these days many third world countries are struggling to have a grasp on stability. Moreover, the roles of each country to the economic growth of their neighbors also affect the entire story of global economic progression.
The United States is one of the most powerful countries all over the world. Evidently the country has the latest technology and a more advanced society compared to others. Taking into account what made the country as it is now is very important. It is known that the history of the United States stretches back to its colonial roots. There is a progress economically that time but when the 13 provinces seek freedom there was an economic struggle. But when liberty is at hand, the struggle to establish a stable nation has just started. Consequently, when the United States have gained enough power in the early years of the 19th century, there were also internal issues thrown to them. With that, this paper will tackle about the Books that are in relation to the status of America when it was a producer as well as consumer nation.
In this context we will review two books of well acclaimed authors that have contributed more knowledge about the economic growth of the United States; River of Dark Dreams by Sir Walter Johnson and Facing East from Indian Country by Dr. Daniel Richter. The following review is the analysis of the events written on the said books.

The Mississippi Valley rose, Mr. Johnson composes, as the "Money-boosting, Central cotton trade, driving edge of the worldwide economy of the nineteenth century." A powerful force (which could be the American Revolution) drove the procedure, and the flush times of the 1830s offered climb to blasts in the district's compelling financial triptych: cotton, land and slaves. Into this bedlam of audacious avarice ventured the exploiters: the area grabbers, the dealers, the slave merchants. Riverboat administrators likewise figured unmistakably, with steamboats ready to move impressive cargo upriver, dissolving endlessly the resources of the land. When the end of the Civil War is at hand, steamboats persisted $200 million of exchange, principally in cotton, and were a main segment in the area's economy.
In Sir Johnson's narrative, the prewar Mississippi Valley is a surprisingly advanced spot, more innovatively progressed than the factories of Massachusetts or Manchester and unquestionably pretty much as associated with and determined by the directs of the world economy.  For example, Johnson reiterates the “trinomial accounting of acres, bales, and hands” but does not offer precise descriptions of recordkeeping practices or how they were changing over time (p. 153). The innovation fueling steamboats, for instance, was new, intended to beat the waterway's powerful stream, pushing products and individuals upstream at a noteworthy if not generally protected pace. The material factories of the North and Britain, by differentiation, still depended on an antiquated, riparian innovation, one prisoner to the power of gravity.
So much for other countries neighboring the US, but the truth is that the economic sprout has included exploitation of humans and all the available natural resources. Consequently, the treatment of those people may seem very wrong, but the process of attaining stability was very needed at that time. I am not against to any factions or what but the terrifying treatments of slaves on that period shall remain on that. Slavery in reference to Walter’s connotations: “The Cotton Kingdom was built out of sun, water, and soil; animal energy, human labor, and mother wit; grain, flesh, and cotton; pain, hunger, and fatigue; blood, milk, semen, and shit” (p. 9) But regardless of that, the nation is guilty of its previous sins just to attain economic stability. Nevertheless, we can see that the River of Dreams has opened our eyes of what was the Journey of our nation towards progress.

Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America: Dr. Daniel Richter

Richter's Facing East from Indian Country, as its title recommends, turns the look of right on time American history around and strengths the audiences to consider "stories of North America amid the time of European colonization as opposed to of the European colonization of North America”. Remarkably, to ethnohistorians and early Americanists for his critical investigation of the Iroquois, Ordeal of the Longhouse, Richter has now composed what may turn out to be the conclusive work in the insightful endeavor to reintegrate Indians into the historical backdrop of North America. This commentator can't envision any student of history or understudy rejecting the developmental part of Native individuals in the historical backdrop of frontier and early America in the wake of perusing this book and engrossing its numerous lessons. Thus, among others, Facing East will appreciate a long timeframe of realistic usability as one of the best presentations into American Indian history before the Removal time of the mid nineteenth century.
In six topical sections that in any case take after a general sequential layout from precontact times to the mid nineteenth century Facing East gives depictions into American Indian lives, activities, and contemplations. Richter picked his vignettes deliberately to reassess a large portion of the significant occasions and persons of ahead of schedule America. The perspective east starts at Cahokia, the city placed over the Mississippi River from present-day St. Louis that prospered around 1100 A.D, and Richter utilizes its story to advise "us that the colossal changes happening in Native American life amid the sixteenth century [and before] were not all, or even essentially, set in movement by Europeans". Dr. Richter gives emphasis to the sources of his narrative regarding the Indian view of the American country with reference to many European individuals such as Jacques Cartier.
“sought cooperation rather than conflict, coexistence on shared regional patches of ground rather than arm’s-length contact across distant frontiers” (pp. 108-109).
With this statement, the Indian tribes in the American continent are looking for harmonious living. Undeniably, they are the natives of the country before Columbus discovered and colonized the continent in the early 15th century.

 “to articulate a distinctive vision of cultural coexistence on Indian terms” (p. 150)

Notwithstanding the consequent eradication of most eastern Indians west of the Mississippi River, Indians stayed in the east, and Richter uses an epilog to recount the narrative of William Apess, a mid nineteenth-century Methodist evangelist and Pequot relative from New England, to uncover the proceeding with Indian voice of eastern North America. Apess helped his perusers and audience members to remember the gallant deeds of Metacom (King Philip) who looked for, in Apess' perspective, to spare his kin from extirpation in the 1670s, generally as George Washington did with his kin in the 1770s.
“In this radical process, the Indians as well as the common natives “learned that, despite ancient rivalries among nations and speakers of different languages, they were all Indians” and that “the Master of Life had made Europeans, Africans, and Americans distinct from one another and purposely placed them on distinct continents”” (p. 181)
Facing East is not a thorough investigation of Indian America rather an overview of what was the process of economic growth of the nation with respect to those who have sacrificed. Indians living west of the Mississippi River get little consideration, and other Indian bunches, particularly those in the South, get less consideration that those in New England and New York.

Conclusion

Both books are very informative and have opened our eyes to the history of our nation. More importantly, it has a chronological layout of what is the process of economic growth and stability. I believe that the issues of the past should be resolve in a way that each side must understand each other. This is some just personal opinions though. Additionally, racism is quite evident to these books and as citizens of the United States; the lesson must be well imparted to us that we are all humans equal to each other and we have no rights to put anyone in slavery.

Works Cited:

Richter, Daniel., (n.d). “Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America.” Pp. 108-109, 150,181
Johnson, Walter., (n.d). “ River of Dark Dreams.” Pp. 9, 153