Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America

The adoption of firearms by American Indians between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries marked a turning point in the history of North America’s indigenous peoples – a cultural earthquake so profound that its impact has yet to be adequately measured. This lecture, based upon the book Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America, explores how Native American’s embracing of firearms transformed their cultures and empowered them to pursue their interests and defend their political and economic autonomy for over two centuries.