I was given a NetGalley widget for this one a year ago and I just got around to reading it and dangit it was so good. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have consumed this wildly relevant fictional tale, which felt not at all fictional, more like historical fiction, due to the times. The cover initially was what drew me in, but I'm so thankful to have stuck with it because the outcome was magical. I always love listening to audiobooks and when they sweep me off my feet, I'm just utterly captivated!

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
This book takes the stance that Native Americans did not simply give up their land when Europans came. It takes pains to point out the strengths of the Native Americans as they fought back and the areas that they won or did better in than most people think.
While this is a good book, it tries to do too much. This would be better as a two or three-part book, divided either based on time period or regions in North America, where the author could expand on each section and give them proper attention. As it is, this ends up becoming a recitation of facts, places, and names. This makes the book a bit of a chore to get through and causes the reader to lose a lot of what the author is trying to convey.
This book is good for anyone who is interested in seeing this period of history from a different viewpoint than the one that is normally presented. It is also good as an introduction to the many topics discussed.

I DNFd this book at about 5% because it was using some extremely racist terminology and ideas to describe Indigenous people which I think is absolutely unacceptable. A book like this should have been written by an Indigenous author

The book is really interesting and insightful, it shines through that there's a lot of research behind it but I don't feel it was really written from the perspective of the indigenous people, in some parts the colonizers can still be felt as the protagonists, I would've enjoyed more details about the indigenous people. Moreover I found the audiobook format really hard to follow because there's a lot of information and, unless you have a notebook or at at the PC and can write, you can only remember bits of what you've heard.

Indigenous Continent is hard to review. While I love learning about Indigenous cultures and found it interesting to read a narrative where Native Americans aren’t portrayed as weak, sitting targets, I struggled to finish this book.

I listened to the audiobook and found it hard to track all the native tribes, places, and events. Since this book spans a vast timeline, I might have had more luck with the physical book. Because of this, I often found my mind wandering while listening. The audiobook narration was enjoyable and easy to listen to but ultimately, finishing this book felt like a chore.

Informative, interesting and engaging, this book is a fantastic listen for anyone interested in learning more about native history in the America's.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with an audio copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I've made it a personal mission to start learning about real history - not what they teach us in schools. I found this book to be thought-provoking and would like to read again, with a physical copy to make notes and such.

Interestingly, I found that this narrative, touted as a native-centric retelling of the history of North America felt like more of the same ole same ole.

I cannot recommend this book enough. Indigenous Continent looks deeply at the western colonization of North America from a non-colonizer centric lens. Highlighting how numerous tribal leaders and nations shaped and salvaged the American colonial experience and their motivations for doing so. Even with a background in history, this book shines light onto so many areas long glossed over by the traditional views on "Colonial America"

This may have been a dense choice for me personally as an audiobook, I probably would have preferred a physical format that I could annotate to my heart's content; however, that is more on my preference than the quality of the audiobook or its narrator. I know I will want to revisit this work and will likely do so in a physical format in the future.

Thank you HighBridge Audio and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reader copy of this work in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting book. Hamalainen tries to reframe American history by putting indigenous Americans at the front and center and I believe he succeeds. Other than that, he uses fairly standard narrative techniques, so if you're looking for innovative storytelling, this book is not it. I still enjoyed thinking about history in a different way, though.

*A big thank-you to Pekka Hamalainen, Higbbridge Audio, and NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.*
Excellent and insightful panorama of the Continent in the context of it native inhabitants and newcomers. The Author undertook a Herculean task to present the history of how North America had been shaped by the indigenous peoples and later on my the Europeans. Complicated tribal rivalry and cooperation, often forced by the changing conditions in the wake of gradual European annexation of lands are well-depicted and easy to follow by an average reader like myself. This was my first non-fiction on North America covering such a long period and presenting its diversity. I found the 17th and 18th centuries most interesting as the chapers deal with creating colonies across the continent and interactions with Native Americans to the extent I was not aware of.
The narration is perfect. This is a book that is not definitely a one-time read.

I decided to start this during Thanksgiving for some perspective. I do not have regrets because education and empathy is essential.
But these historical facts will make use lose your appetite at times, so maybe listen when you are wanting to eat less.
This broke my heart and also put a lot in perspective for me. The narrator was perfect.
I recommend this to everyone. Give it a listen.