The Making of An American Genocide with Benjamin Madley

Benjamin Madley’s An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873, (Yale University Press, 2016), is an important and long-overdue addition to our understanding of California and the United States. It is the first full account of the government-sanctioned genocide of California Indians under U.S. rule, during which that population fell by an astounding 80 percent. The book received a Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History, was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, and has received numerous prizes.
Madley, who teaches History and American Indian studies at UCLA, will discuss the stakes associated with writing about genocide, his archival and on-reservation research, California's history of state-sponsored mass murder, and the book's public impact. He will offer his advice to writers working on history-related projects on how to make it to the finish line. After his talk and a Q&A session, he will be on hand for a book signing.