Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World

Choose one of the stories Weatherford presents of a modern-day Indian, and analyze how his or her circumstances reflects the broader native experience.

How does Weatherford distinguish the European (or classical) concept of liberty from that of the Indians?

Which of the Indians’ contributions to modern society do you think was most important, and why?

Identify the narrative techniques Jack Weatherford uses in Indian Givers to connect the experience of modern-day Indians to that of their ancestors.

What were the differences between the Indian and European approaches to personal property? Explore the broader ramifications this had on their cultures.

Identify which of the innovations Weatherford proposes seems least justified or important. How would you strengthen his argument?

Discuss the treatment of Indians who tried to assert their independence from Europeans in Indian Givers.

“The history of America is the history of constant resistance and periodic armed revolution against the Old World forms of tyranny” (154). What “Old World forms of tyranny” does Weatherford mean, and how did the Indians attempt to resist them?