The Plot Against Native America

The Fateful Story of Native American Boarding Schools and the Theft of Tribal Lands

Bill Vaughn

The first narrative history revealing the entire story of the development, operation, and harmful legacy of the Native American boarding schools—and how our nation still has much to resolve before we can fully heal.

When Europeans came to the Americas centuries ago, too many of them brought racism along with them. Even presidents such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson each had different takes on how to solve the “Indian Problem”—none of them beneficial for the Natives.

In the early 1800s, the federal government and various church denominations devised the “Indian Boarding Schools,” in which Native children were forced to give up their Native languages, clothes, and spiritual beliefs for a life of cultural assimilation. Many of the children were abused sexually—and a shocking number died of pneumonia, tuberculosis, and other diseases. Sizable graveyards were found at many of these boarding schools.

In 2021, the mass graves of First Nations children were found at the remains of some Canadian boarding schools, and the Pope traveled to Canada to apologize. In May 2022, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland released the first installment of an investigation into Native American boarding schools in the United States. It was the tip of the iceberg. The findings were shocking: the investigation revealed that the boarding school system emphasized manual labor and vocational training, which failed to prepare indigenous students for life in a capitalist economy.

Despite the plot against Native America, tribal cultures have endured and are now flourishing. Indigenous birth rates are higher than those of white communities. Tribal councils across Indian Country are building their own herds of bison. As the tribes rebuild and reinvigorate their culture, the Catholic Church in America is fading. Some thirty dioceses have declared bankruptcy because of lawsuits brought by the victims of the sexual predators among priests and nuns. Native Americans seeking reparations for lost land are looking directly at the Vatican.

Bill Vaughn is the author of Hawthorn from Yale University Press; The Last Heir from Bison Books; and Making Bones, a novel. A former contributing editor for Outside Magazine, he lives with his wife, dogs, and horses on the Clark Fork downstream from Missoula, Montana.

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Endorsements & Reviews

“Vaughn’s narrative history charts the growth and impact of Indigenous residential boarding schools in North America, offering insights into their pedagogical rationale, day-to-day operations, and enduring consequences. In illuminating detail, he covers the collaboration between government and church powers in creating the schools as well as their efforts over two centuries to evade responsibility for the myriad abuses that took place across the continent. An informed, astute, and often harrowing account of institutionalized assaults on Indigenous peoples.” Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Bill Vaughn:

“A compelling read, spiced with arcane history and Vaughn’s own anecdotes.” Science News

“A fascinating exploration into how a tough, thorny tree could have so much human and personal history carved into it, from war and famine to fairy tales and founding fathers. Hawthorn tells a story as charmingly and intricately branching as its subject.” Paul Collins, author of Murder of the Century

“Vaughn is clearly captivated by the hawthorn, both as a natural phenomenon, and as a mythic force. Call it a gentle madness if you will, but I recommend sharing it.” Natural History

“The book is exceedingly original and the author does an excellent job weaving together a wide range of material.” The New York Botanical Garden

“By looking at the family he married into and following the tendrils out from Helena to Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., and back home to Montana again, Vaughn did something new and unusual in the historical literature of Montana. A book to be admired.” The Missoulian, Missoula, Montana

"Tracing the history of two Montana families through four generations and showing how they came together in the third generation through marriage, Missoula author Bill Vaughn provides a story as much about Montana, its dreams, myths, and deceptions." Roundup Magazine