What is America - Ronald Wright

What is America: A Short History of the New World Order
Ronald Wright
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How did America, transform from a frontier country to the lone super power in just over two centuries? How do America’s claims to be the most modern and democratic country in the world, stand up to scrutiny whilst Middle America – The Backwoods America – remains the stronghold for the religious right?

In ‘What is America’, Wright traces the origins of America back to its original Indigenous Americans – the great Aztec and Incas civilizations. Wright explains that these empires were not conquered by the Spaniards until the small pox. In future years, the small pox and other white man’s diseases were deliberately reintroduced whenever they were faced with strong indigenous opposition.In one generation, the American Indian’s population was reduced to just a tenth of its size, mainly through white man’s diseases.

In the first century of their settlement, the white leaders made 370 treaties with the Indians and proceeded to break them all. Aside from breaking all their promises, the white settlers continued to enslave, massacre and drive the indigenous population off their lands. The settlers justified their actions by demonizing the Indians, calling them savages and condemning their beliefs as devil worshipping. It’s interesting to note, echoes of such tactics are still evident in the current US “War on Terror”. Sadly, as Wright notes, such methods give “all repressive regimes of both right and left an excuse for their own atrocities.”What is America is a captivating read about the colonial culture of America and its influence on how America is perceived in the eyes of the world. My one criticism is that I found the book far too brief (There are only 9 chapters and the last third of the book is taken up with notes). I would have liked to have read a more in depth commentary on the state of America during the past century – and its influence on the rest of the world- than what Wright offered.

An enjoyable read but unfortunately the length of the book left me unsatisfied.