{{Short description|1992 non-fiction book by Ronald Wright}} {{Infobox book | author = Ronald Wright | pub_date = 1992 | isbn = 0-395-56500-6 | publisher = Houghton Mifflin | pages = 320 | genre = Non-fiction | subjects = Colonisation | image = Stolen Continents book cover.jpg | award = Gordon Montador Award }} '''''Stolen Continents''''' is a 1992 non-fiction book by Ronald Wright that covers the colonial theft of land between 1492 and 1990. It specifically focuses on activities directed towards the Maya, Inca, Aztec, Cherokee, and Iroquois peoples.
The book won the Gordon Montador Award in 1993.
== Synopsis == ''Stolen Continents'' covers the period 1492 to 1990 and documents five examples of the colonial theft of land from Maya, Inca, Aztec, Cherokee, and Iroquois people.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ronald-wright/stolen-continents/ |title=STOLEN CONTINENTS {{!}} Kirkus Reviews |date=1 Feb 1992 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=Stolen Continent CL by Ronald Wright |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780395565001 |access-date=2022-09-07 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}}</ref> Wright breaks each example into three stages: initial contact, violent struggles, and modern resistance.<ref name=":0" /> The book uses contemporary accounts from native peoples.<ref name=":0" />
== Critical reception == The writer T. F. Rigelhof described the book as "remarkable" and "essential reading."<ref>"Henderson's Spear." ''The Globe and Mail'' [Toronto, Canada], 8 Sept. 2001. ''Gale OneFile: News'', link.gale.com/apps/doc/A30468142/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=ebsco&xid=add736f6. Accessed 6 Sept. 2022.</ref> The archaeologist Brian M. Fagan was critical of what he saw as Wright's prioritisation of indigenous perspectives, which he claimed made the book unbalanced.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fagan |first=Brian M. |date=1992-06-07 |title=With Gun and Smallpox |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/07/books/with-gun-and-smallpox.html |access-date=2022-09-07 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
''Stolen Continents'' won the Gordon Montador Award in 1993.<ref>"Stolen Continents honored with Gordon Montador Award". ''Ottawa Citizen'', April 23, 1993.</ref>
== See also ==
* ''A Short History of Progress'' (book by the same author) * ''What Is America?'' (book by the same author)
== References ==
{{reflist}} {{Authority control}}
== External links ==
* [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/28/books/l-stolen-continents-546992.html Wright's response to Fagan's review], ''The New York Times'' letters section, June 28, 1992.
Category:1992 non-fiction books Category:History books about genocide Category:History books about colonialism Category:Books about Native American history Category:Non-fiction books about Indigenous peoples of the Americas Category:Books about foreign relations of the United States Category:2nd millennium in the Maya civilization Category:Inca Empire Category:History of the Aztecs Category:Conquistadors Category:Cherokee in popular culture Category:Haudenosaunee Category:Canadian non-fiction books Category:Mesoamerican studies books Category:Haudenosaunee in popular culture