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Your Call

'This Land Is Their Land' -- The Real History Of Thanksgiving

 On this edition of Your Call, Professor David Silverman will discuss his new book, This Land is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving.

Americans tell themselves a patriotic story about the supposed first Thanksgiving which treats colonization as a consensual bloodless affair. The Wampanoags say this myth sugarcoats the viciousness of colonialism. Professor Silverman tells the story from their perspective. 

Guest:

David Silverman, professor at George Washington University specializing in Native American, Colonial American, and American racial history, and author of several books, including Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America and Red Brethren: The Brothertown and Stockbridge Indians and the Problem of Race in Early America 

Web Resources:

The New Yorker: The Invention of Thanksgiving

The Boston Globe: 'This Land is Their Land' a sobering correction of the Thanksgiving myth

Smithsonian: The Myths of Thanksgiving Story and the Lasting Damage They Imbue

Rose Aguilar has been the host of Your Call since 2006. She became a regular media roundtable guest in 2001. In 2019, the San Francisco Press Club named Your Call the best public affairs program. In 2017, The Nation named it the most valuable local radio show.