Jeff Ostler
@jostler.bsky.social
Semi-retired history professor, University of Oregon. Thinking about genocide.
The great Dakota artist Oscar Howe's 1959 painting of Wounded Knee. No matter what Whiskey Pete says, it was a massacre not a battle.
September 26, 2025 at 2:00 PM
The great Dakota artist Oscar Howe's 1959 painting of Wounded Knee. No matter what Whiskey Pete says, it was a massacre not a battle.
This man is ignorant. Wounded Knee was a massacre, not a battle.
September 26, 2025 at 3:45 AM
This man is ignorant. Wounded Knee was a massacre, not a battle.
Love how the New York Times fact checker always says Trump's blatant lies lack evidence as if some evidence might eventually be found.
September 24, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Love how the New York Times fact checker always says Trump's blatant lies lack evidence as if some evidence might eventually be found.
1900-1920 was the heyday of Socialist mayors in the U.S. Elected in as many as 200 towns and cities
June 27, 2025 at 3:24 AM
1900-1920 was the heyday of Socialist mayors in the U.S. Elected in as many as 200 towns and cities
Just published roundtable in H-Environment on Robert Morrissey's excellent book PEOPLE OF THE ECOTONE.
networks.h-net.org/group/19397/...
networks.h-net.org/group/19397/...
May 15, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Just published roundtable in H-Environment on Robert Morrissey's excellent book PEOPLE OF THE ECOTONE.
networks.h-net.org/group/19397/...
networks.h-net.org/group/19397/...
Now that Trump has reestablished the 1776 Commission, here's a link to a piece @karl-jacoby.bsky.social and I wrote a few years back when we dared to hope the Commission had found its rightful place in history's dustbin.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
February 4, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Now that Trump has reestablished the 1776 Commission, here's a link to a piece @karl-jacoby.bsky.social and I wrote a few years back when we dared to hope the Commission had found its rightful place in history's dustbin.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
I live in Oregon. I guess this explains why there is no water coming out of my tap today.
January 29, 2025 at 1:11 AM
I live in Oregon. I guess this explains why there is no water coming out of my tap today.
F-P thinks that this is an example of "Chomskian relativism and ideological projection at their worst," whatever this means. FWIW, the inspiration for my "radical" views was Tocqueville who wrote of U.S. Indian policy: "It is impossible to destroy men with more respect to the laws of humanity."
January 24, 2025 at 5:50 PM
F-P thinks that this is an example of "Chomskian relativism and ideological projection at their worst," whatever this means. FWIW, the inspiration for my "radical" views was Tocqueville who wrote of U.S. Indian policy: "It is impossible to destroy men with more respect to the laws of humanity."
As Calloway points out, however, the boundary line would NOT BE PERMANENT. In the very same letter GW says the Indians “will ever retreat as our Settlements advance upon them, and they will be as ready to sell, as we are to buy.” F-P doesn't quote this part. He is dishonest.
January 24, 2025 at 5:50 PM
As Calloway points out, however, the boundary line would NOT BE PERMANENT. In the very same letter GW says the Indians “will ever retreat as our Settlements advance upon them, and they will be as ready to sell, as we are to buy.” F-P doesn't quote this part. He is dishonest.
To counter Calloway’s statement that GW’s policy was to acquire Indian lands, F-P quotes from a 1783 GW letter saying he wants to establish a permanent boundary between U.S. Americans and Native Americans.
January 24, 2025 at 5:50 PM
To counter Calloway’s statement that GW’s policy was to acquire Indian lands, F-P quotes from a 1783 GW letter saying he wants to establish a permanent boundary between U.S. Americans and Native Americans.
F-P has some very silly ideas. One of them is that Calloway is a “Far Left academic.” I laughed pretty hard when I read this, imagining CC walking around the Dartmouth campus in a faded Che Guevera T-shirt. Only in F-P’s fevered imagination is CC “Far Left.”
January 24, 2025 at 5:50 PM
F-P has some very silly ideas. One of them is that Calloway is a “Far Left academic.” I laughed pretty hard when I read this, imagining CC walking around the Dartmouth campus in a faded Che Guevera T-shirt. Only in F-P’s fevered imagination is CC “Far Left.”
F-P also quotes Colin Calloway, author of THE INDIAN WORLD OF GEORGE WASHINGTON: the “primary goal of Washington’s Indian policy was to acquire Indian lands.”
January 24, 2025 at 5:50 PM
F-P also quotes Colin Calloway, author of THE INDIAN WORLD OF GEORGE WASHINGTON: the “primary goal of Washington’s Indian policy was to acquire Indian lands.”
F-P says nothing about the fact that US troops killed several dozen Haudenosaunees and burned several towns. Haudenosaunees were without food and shelter. Hundreds died from exposure, starvation, and disease. No wonder Haudenosaunees called GW “the Town Destroyer.”
January 24, 2025 at 5:50 PM
F-P says nothing about the fact that US troops killed several dozen Haudenosaunees and burned several towns. Haudenosaunees were without food and shelter. Hundreds died from exposure, starvation, and disease. No wonder Haudenosaunees called GW “the Town Destroyer.”
You would think F-P would at least mention GW's authorization of troops to assault the Haudenosaunees (Iroquois) in 1779. “The immediate objects,” GW wrote, “are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements.”
January 24, 2025 at 5:50 PM
You would think F-P would at least mention GW's authorization of troops to assault the Haudenosaunees (Iroquois) in 1779. “The immediate objects,” GW wrote, “are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements.”
This thread is about Chapter 14, "Were the Founding Fathers Anti-Indian?" F-P quotes WaPo in 2019 that “George Washington Owned Slaves and Ordered Indians to Be Killed.” F-P elaborates that GW ordered a number of them [Indians] to be executed.” The implication: WaPo is alleging a made-up event.
January 24, 2025 at 5:50 PM
This thread is about Chapter 14, "Were the Founding Fathers Anti-Indian?" F-P quotes WaPo in 2019 that “George Washington Owned Slaves and Ordered Indians to Be Killed.” F-P elaborates that GW ordered a number of them [Indians] to be executed.” The implication: WaPo is alleging a made-up event.
The Anti-Christ speaks.
January 22, 2025 at 7:48 PM
The Anti-Christ speaks.
Same theme yesterday: What Slotkin calls "Myth of the Frontier." This time, though, with Musk on board, Manifest Destiny includes Mars.
January 21, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Same theme yesterday: What Slotkin calls "Myth of the Frontier." This time, though, with Musk on board, Manifest Destiny includes Mars.
Thinking about how Trump's inauguration speech echoes his 2020 Mt. Rushmore speech, analyzed by Richard Slotkin in A GREAT DISORDER.
January 21, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Thinking about how Trump's inauguration speech echoes his 2020 Mt. Rushmore speech, analyzed by Richard Slotkin in A GREAT DISORDER.
I don't understand why the American Historical Association's Council considers the "Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza" (passed at the AHA annual meeting on Jan. 6) as "outside the scope of the Association's mission."
January 17, 2025 at 11:31 PM
I don't understand why the American Historical Association's Council considers the "Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza" (passed at the AHA annual meeting on Jan. 6) as "outside the scope of the Association's mission."
F-P is mad about all the awards Saunt received and thinks the “fawning treatment” of Saunt’s book reveals an agenda of the “American intellectual establishment” to “atone for ‘racial guilt.’” (F-P is good at repeating right-wing caricatures).
January 15, 2025 at 4:01 PM
F-P is mad about all the awards Saunt received and thinks the “fawning treatment” of Saunt’s book reveals an agenda of the “American intellectual establishment” to “atone for ‘racial guilt.’” (F-P is good at repeating right-wing caricatures).
One of F-P’s targets is Claudio Saunt’s UNWORTHY REPUBLIC, which covers a chunk of the 1830-1880 period. F-P doesn’t like the title. It is mean to the U.S., and, besides, why doesn’t Saunt say that Russia, Iran, or China are unworthy?
January 15, 2025 at 4:01 PM
One of F-P’s targets is Claudio Saunt’s UNWORTHY REPUBLIC, which covers a chunk of the 1830-1880 period. F-P doesn’t like the title. It is mean to the U.S., and, besides, why doesn’t Saunt say that Russia, Iran, or China are unworthy?
How this happened F-P doesn’t exactly say, but he does describe it as “the great land grab,” so yes, STOLEN.
January 15, 2025 at 4:01 PM
How this happened F-P doesn’t exactly say, but he does describe it as “the great land grab,” so yes, STOLEN.
F-P thinks he has come up with a BRILLIANT GOTHCA: F-P informs us that according to Pekka Hämäläinen, Indigenous people controlled most of North America in 1800.
January 15, 2025 at 4:01 PM
F-P thinks he has come up with a BRILLIANT GOTHCA: F-P informs us that according to Pekka Hämäläinen, Indigenous people controlled most of North America in 1800.
F-P is deeply confused about time. None of the historians he excoriates as “pushing the stolen-ground genocide meme” (he mentions me, Ben Madley, and Claudio Saunt) argue that ALL the land was stolen AT ONCE. Guess what: all of us are quite aware that it TOOK A LONG TIME.
January 15, 2025 at 4:01 PM
F-P is deeply confused about time. None of the historians he excoriates as “pushing the stolen-ground genocide meme” (he mentions me, Ben Madley, and Claudio Saunt) argue that ALL the land was stolen AT ONCE. Guess what: all of us are quite aware that it TOOK A LONG TIME.
F-P admits the Walking Purchase was “one of the more egregious instances of fraud” (so, yes, STOLEN) in the colonial period, but asks was it “normative?” F-P answers this by saying that the “Long Peace of 1682-1737” was more typical.
January 15, 2025 at 4:01 PM
F-P admits the Walking Purchase was “one of the more egregious instances of fraud” (so, yes, STOLEN) in the colonial period, but asks was it “normative?” F-P answers this by saying that the “Long Peace of 1682-1737” was more typical.