There seems to be so much bias around the native Americans in terms of how violent/peaceful they were. Some people want to make them all out to be dumb, brutal savages. And other people want to say they were never prone to violence at all. I believe both of these views reject documented history outright. However, it still makes it difficult to know if what I am reading or listening to is reliable or not.
I realize everyone is biased to some extent so it may not be helpful to ask, but I figured I’d try anyway. Does anyone know of any sources to learn about native Americans that avoid the biases of both extreme views I mentioned above?
What you need to realize is that while there were systems between groups that encouraged/discouraged violence, Native Americans were not just one thing: some nations had very aggressive cultures, others long traditions of peace.
The usual suggestion is excellent—1491 by Mann—but I think you might also enjoy Daniel Richter’s Before the Revolution. The opening chapter gives the archaeological and oral historic basis for a pretty brutal empire in the American Southwest. However, there were also other peoples, also American Indians, who were the victims of the empire, and how they resisted or submitted. There is never just one story.
I also think you would like it because it’s a nuanced look at the clashes between settlers and Indigenous. I think that Powhatan were remarkably tolerant.. of the Europeans, but they also committed a genocide of their own shortly before the setement of Jamestown.
Is there a period, region, or topic you want to learn more about in particular?
These sections of our booklist may be of interest:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/books/americas#wiki_pre-columbian
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/books/americas/latinamerica#wiki_pre-columbian
If you would like to find information on existing Indigenous groups, /r/IndianCountry maintains a couple of resources that may be of interest:
https://www.reddit.com/r/IndianCountry/wiki/resources
and