To feel like we are creating a complete picture of history when we conduct research, historians must rely on all the primary documents they can find to piece together the puzzle of a woman's life person or events surrounding a person or moment. As I read Facing East, Richter constantly reminded me that early American history is constructed from only one perspective: that of those who possess the power of the pen. There may be surviving artifacts from the various indigenous cultures of North America dating back to before the arrival of non-native peoples, but these artifacts cannot tell us a complete story of the lives of the people who used these objects, because they left no written history; no primary documents. It reinforces the point Richter wants us to think about who is writing history, and that the group of people who dominate or control language and technology at that time will determine how generations perceive the way they the events occurred. American history isn't necessarily in my comfort zone as far as the amount of knowledge I can share with an open mind. Facing East was the best book for me to start with, I think, because it influenced my ideas about the ways in which historians wrote about the conflict between Native Americans and European settlers. The only perspective I ever read was a west facing perspective. I was almost ashamed at how surprised I was that I hadn't considered the fact that conflict and mistrust existed in North America long before the arrival of non-Natives, rather than what I believe is often described as this harmonious network of Native American tribes that they slowly gave in. to the invasion of the settlers. The rivalries and wars that emerge......middle of paper......te races in the United States in the early twentieth century? I think it's problematic to argue that certain choices or events are inevitable in history. We have the unfair advantage of looking at things in a much broader scope than people might have at the time, because we can see the consequences of actions with the help of hindsight. But I think we, as historians, do future readers a disservice by creating logical fallacies that a + b automatically equals c because certain events happen. Overall, Facing East was an original work that gave me a new perspective on how the history of a was taught to the nation, and how we can look at what may have been the perspective of a people who could not leave evidence enough to make their case for having fought to the death for something they felt so passionately about: the land, their families and their legacies.