Includes bibliographical references (pages 647-678) and index.
Contents:
Part I. The searchers : finding each other -- Out of Africa : origins -- When the West belonged to God : discovering the New World before Columbus -- Lost souls in revelry : collision of races -- Create humanity and conquer nature : the British invasion -- American exodus : survival on the plains -- The blind healing the blind : white medicine men -- Weapons of mass destruction : infectious disease -- Part II. The mystery : clash of spirits -- The world is not enough : cultural literacy for religion -- The spirit of the West : Native American religion and its chroniclers -- Smoking to the spirit of the buffalo : Plains Indian ceremonies and rituals -- The language of God : Indian myths, legends, and its chroniclers -- The way : historical Christianity through the Dark Ages -- The faith of our fathers : religion in America -- Part III. Thomas Jefferson : winning the West -- A revolution : the Enlightenment, scientific revolution, and the romantic movement -- All men are created equal : Thomas Jefferson and his legacy -- Father of the American West : Thomas Jefferson and the Corps of Discovery -- Father of the removal policy : Thomas Jefferson and the Doctrine of Discovery -- Manifest Destiny : if God is for us, then who could ever stop us? -- Cleansing the West : religion, guns, and romance -- The descent of man : scientific racism -- Survival of the fittest : Charles Darwin explains evolution -- Part IV. The golden rule, or the golden-ruled? : Custer : the son of the American West -- The better angels of our nature : Custer and the fight to make the Union whole -- A legend unleashed : Custer revealed -- American idols : Grant and Custer after the Civil War -- Son of the American West : Custer, O Fallen Star -- The children of Manifest Destiny and shifting shadows : education to kill the Indian -- Lamentations of the fall : genocide, ethnic cleansing, and post traumatic stress disorder.
Summary:
"Author and cultural historian Larry Len Peterson details the collision of European and Native American civilizations and the bloody aftermath that doomed a once-thriving people. Wide-ranging and brimming with fresh in- sights, American Trinity focuses on how the West was shaped by three implacable forces: Christian imperialism, Thomas Jefferson's Doctrine of Discovery, and George Armstrong Custer's hubris. As Peterson says, 'History is important. When there is no knowledge of the past, there cannot be a vision of the future'"--Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.