Description
Book SynopsisA Generation Removed is an examination of the postWorld War II international phenomenon of governments taking Indigenous children away from their primary families and placing them with adoptive parents in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Trade Review“Illuminating. . . . Jacobs’s history is essential and timely reading.”—Beth H. Piatote,
Journal of American History "This is a moving, significant book. Justice, Jacobs explains, will come only when nonindigenous people acknowledge the damage done.
A Generation Removed makes a major contribution toward bringing the story to light. It remains for the rest of us to read and teach it."—Sherry Smith,
Western Historical Quarterly“[Jacobs] effectively elucidates the complicated policies surrounding the Indigenous child welfare crisis in a mesmerizing narrative that highlights how it’s not just an ‘American Indian story . . . but a profoundly American one.’”—Elise Boxer,
South Dakota History "
A Generation Removed is an important book that effectively researches and narrates a difficult and upsetting topic that has been all but ignored by mainstream American society for far too long."—Akim Reinhardt,
Nebraska History"
A Generation Removed is a powerful eye opener, covering a piece of history we push under the carpet at our own peril."—Alan Porter,
Saskatchewan History"A solid account that calls for "a full historical reckoning" of this devastating chapter in the treatment of Native Americans."—
Kirkus“Margaret Jacobs once again demonstrates her genius for writing history that combines penetrating analysis with heart-wrenching stories. Beautifully written, deeply researched, this important and amazing book examines a subject largely unknown to the public at large but all too familiar to Indigenous peoples who have suffered the pain and indignity of child removal.”—David Wallace Adams, author of
Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875–1928“Jacobs brings deep scholarship to a topic of searing national and transnational importance. In a respectful, clear voice, she guides the reader on a journey into the most intimate corridors of settler colonialism. This is a complex and often heart-wrenching history that provides salutary lessons for the future.”—Ann McGrath, director of the Australian Centre for Indigenous History at Australian National University and coauthor of
How to Write History That People Want to Read“Using compelling stories and weighty evidence, Jacobs has uncovered a modern and ongoing story of child-stealing in the United States. She lays out the shocking history of Native American adoption and the good liberal logic that enabled it in a page-turner of a book.”—Anne F. Hyde, Bancroft Prize–winning author of
Empires, Nations, and Families: A History of the North American West, 1800–1860“A Generation Removed will find a large and interested readership among researchers, university students (of all levels), as well as the broader community of people involved in adoption. This book is also clearly written and is sophisticated without being overly specialized or jargon-ridden. . . . An admirable book, compelling to read despite the tragic stories it recounts.”—Karen Dubinsky, author of Babies without Borders: Adoption and Migration across the Americas
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
A Note on Terms
Abbreviations
Simon Ortiz’s Question
Introduction
Prologue
Part 1. Taking Care of American Indian Children
Modern Indian Life
Chapter 1. The Bureaucracy of Caring for Indian Children
Dana’s Story
Chapter 2. Caring about Indian Children in a Liberal Age
Part 2. The Indian Child Welfare Crisis in Indian Country
John’s Story
Chapter 3. Losing Children
Meeting Steven Unger
Chapter 4. Reclaiming Care
Interviewing Bert Hirsch and Evelyn Blanchard
Chapter 5. The Campaign for the Indian Child Welfare Act
Part 3. The Indian Child Welfare Crisis in a Global Context
Tracking Down the Doucette Family
Chapter 6. The Indigenous Child Welfare Crisis in Canada
Meeting Aunty Di
Chapter 7. The Indigenous Child Welfare Crisis in Australia and Transnational Activism
Finding Russell Moore
Chapter 8. Historical Reckoning with Indigenous Child Removal in Settler Colonial Nations
Afterword
Notes
Bibliography
Index
