"All the Real Indians Died Off"

And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans

By: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Dina Gilio-Whitaker

Narrated by: Kyla Garcia

Unpacks the twenty-one most common myths and misconceptions about Native Americans

In this enlightening book, scholars and activists Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker tackle a wide range of myths about Native American culture and history that have misinformed generations. Tracing how these ideas evolved, and drawing from history, the authors disrupt long-held and enduring myths such as:

“Columbus Discovered America”
“Thanksgiving Proves the Indians Welcomed Pilgrims”
“Indians Were Savage and Warlike”
“Europeans Brought Civilization to Backward Indians”
“The United States Did Not Have a Policy of Genocide”
“Sports Mascots Honor Native Americans”
“Most Indians Are on Government Welfare”
“Indian Casinos Make Them All Rich”
“Indians Are Naturally Predisposed to Alcohol”

Each chapter deftly shows how these myths are rooted in the fears and prejudice of European settlers and in the larger political agendas of a settler state aimed at acquiring Indigenous land and tied to narratives of erasure and disappearance. Accessibly written and revelatory, “All the Real Indians Died Off” challenges readers to rethink what they have been taught about Native Americans and history.

Critic reviews

“Dunbar-Ortiz and Gilio-Whitaker admirably aim to explode popular, damaging, and inherently limiting myths about Native Americans, continuing the work begun in Dunbar-Ortiz’s well-received An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States.”
—Publishers Weekly

“‘All the Real Indians Died Off’ And 20 Other Myths about Native Americans offers a much-needed and excellent introduction to American Indian history and contemporary life for a broad audience.”
—Against the Current

“I have been looking for a text for our Intro to Native American Studies course that touches on the themes of history, genocide, cultural appropriation, and legal relationship between the United States and indigenous people that would be comprehensible by freshmen. I have finally found it...I cannot wait to teach it.”
—Kerri J. Malloy, lecturer in the Department of Native American Studies at Humboldt State University

Extreme detail

A very good read. Extremely detailed.This book needs to be read and added to high school curriculum.

Beautifully rendered perspective and history

Loved the historic and legal contexts for where we are today in the United States and globally. Very informative on myths and reality, and how to be more respectful across cultural boundaries.

A glimpse into the facts we should all know

The author and narrator did a fantastic job of laying out the myths that continue to propagate about Native Americans as well as what is (or isn’t being done about them) and what we, the readers and listeners can do ourselves.

A Necessary Corrective

An excellent brief introductory critique of the myths white supremacist settler colonialism employes in its unnuanced, blanket, and totalizing depictions of indigenous peoples. For those interested in decolonization in the so-called United States and Canada, this is a good place to start.

Great book - dreadful reader

I wish I could say I was drawn into this book because the information and research were top notch, but the narrator was just awful. No warmth or depth to reading. Ruined it for me