Ryan W. Booth
Washington State University
Ryan Booth specializes in the history of the United States in the nineteenth century and early twentieth up to World War I. His work focuses on both Indigenous and military history. He is currently revising his dissertation, “Crossed Arrows: The US Indian Scouts, 1866-1947,” into a monograph. His dissertation explored the military service of two tribes, the Northern Cheyenne & White Mountain Apache, as representative of the complicated story of US Empire, the martial race theory, and military service as a means to greater Indigenous self-sufficiency.
Undergraduate Syllabi
US-Indian Wars
This course provides an overview of the history of warfare between the United States and Indigenous people from 1635 to 1924. Nearly from the moment European colonists set foot on North America, these colonists waged war against Indigenous First Peoples. While land settlement and trade were often causal factors for the conflicts, other factors also played a role including inter-tribal warfare and over time an interest by Indigenous nations in allying with the Americans. By the late nineteenth century, the U.S. adopted strong assimilationist practices towards Native Americans which further complicated their relationship with the government. Warfare proved to be one way to force assimilation through battlefield defeat and also by enlisting Native soldiers to fight for the U.S. Army. The service of the U.S. Indian Scouts proved pivotal in changing many attitudes about Native people and paved the way for their full integration into the American experience as U.S. citizens.
THE Civil WAR and reconstruction
This course explores the causes of the Civil War, the military and political course of the war, and its social consequences in the nation’s Reconstruction. Using Abraham Lincoln as our touchstone, the course will cover topics such as the abolition of slavery, constitutional questions, the limits of military power, and America’s unfinished work. From tried-and-true works by military historians to pop culture, we will examine every angle possible to thoroughly understand this engrossing and potent struggle.