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An account of the Native American experience in government boarding schools, based on government archives, student and teacher autobiographies, and school newspapers, revealing coping strategies of Indian youth in institutions designed to reconstruct them psychologically and culturally. Chronicles the government's gradual retreat from its assimilationist vision due to student resistance and its contradictory set of humanitarian and racist motivations. Contains b&w photos. Of interest to students and general readers. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
From the Publisher
What a triumph! Adams has masterfully reworked, reinterpreted, and reframed an enlarged version of his classic book by drawing on new research by Indian and non-Indian scholars over the past twenty-five years. Education for Extinction is a foundational study for anyone interested in boarding schools, Indian education, and American history.”—Clifford E. Trafzer, distinguished professor of history and Rupert Costo Chair in American Indian Affairs, University of California, Riverside
“For more than twenty years, Education for Extinction has been revered by scholars and students alike as the most comprehensive and highly respected book on the federal government’s off-reservation Indian boarding school system. Now in a revised and expanded form, the book draws on newly uncovered archival materials and places this history within the growing literature of Indian education and boarding school studies. No other book on this topic comes close to its literary depth, scholarly rigor, or historical significance. It is and will forever be a foundational text in the field and will continue to enlighten and influence the way we understand this important era of US and American Indian history.”—Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert, author of Hopi Runners: Crossing the Terrain between Indian and American
Praise for the first edition:
"Adams has achieved something remarkable here: he offers a great deal of information on an important and difficult historical topic while never losing sight of its human dimension. Persuasive and moving, his book is full of good stories that should appeal to the general public."—Brian Dippie, author of The Vanishing American: White Attitudes and U.S. Indian Policy
"A story worth reading and remembering, one that reveals the use of education as a weapon of war, a method of domination. A strong lesson in the potential for education to become part of a political and cultural arsenal."—American Journal of Education
"A poignant and heartbreaking book that chronicles the infamous history of the U.S. government’s efforts to indoctrinate, deculturalize, and ‘Americanize’ Native peoples through the use of boarding schools. . . . This is a must-read book for all educators, especially for those who wish to work with students of color. As this book powerfully reminds us, education is an encounter, not a discovery."—Harvard Educational Review
