Book Review of the Week: ‘The Rediscovery of America for Young People: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History’

“The Rediscovery of America for Young People: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History”

By Ned Blackhawk and Rebecca Stefoff

Sept. 2026. 544p. illus. Seven Stories/Triangle Square. Grades 8-12.

Blackhawk’s National Book Award-winning work has been adapted for young adults by Rebecca Stefoff, and no details are spared in sharing the specific harms done to Indigenous peoples throughout the history of the U.S. From the first chapter, colonizers’ disregard for Indigenous culture, homes, societies, and human rights is abundantly evident, and the ensuing lawlessness, violence, and suffering doesn’t let up for hundreds of pages—making it an emotionally challenging option for reading start to finish. Stefoff’s adaptation begins with Spanish explorers invading the continents in the fifteenth century and ends with Turtle Mountain and Spirit Creek tribes fighting to protect their voting rights in twenty-first-century North Dakota. Every historical event takes on new meaning with Indigenous perspectives imparted thanks to Blackhawk’s research and Stefoff’s storytelling. Each treaty broken, each village destroyed, and each back turned in the face of genocide is illuminated here, and although white colonizers have been claiming for generations that Native American populations are in perilous decline, these nations continue to find ways to thrive. Read as a stand-alone text, there is a sense of futility that humans will ever evolve, but if used as a tool for research—particularly in a classroom setting where clarifying conversations can be facilitated with skilled educators—students can embrace an entirely new understanding of the history of North America that might bring about that most necessary evolution.—Casey O’Leary