Steven Charleston

Steven Charleston’s “We Survived the End of the World” attempts to draw parallels between the current looming specter of apocalypse brought on by climate crisis, war, greed, and social unrest with the near annihilation Native Americans faced at the hands of European colonists. The historical accounts of Indigenous resistance and prophetic leaders in the book are engaging and present a point of view not often explored in mainstream U.S. history. However, making the comparable leap to the current crisis we find our world in, falls somewhat short. Yes, there is and will be resistance. Cooperative communities will form and likely will survive catastrophe. It seems meager hope, but nevertheless it is hope.… (más)

We Survived the End of the World, by Steven Charleston, is written as a lesson for us, both Native American and non-Native, on how to live in apocalyptic times. His definition of "apocalyptic," given in the first chapter, includes both the large-scale and the personal, both disaster and a vision of the future that can follow disaster. His method is to use four Native American prophets, as well as the Hopi religion's vision of evolution and the future world, to prescribe treatments for our modern dangers. In each of the four "prophet" sections, he gives a history of each prophet's life, with a lesson that we can use as modern people to move on from our own apocalyptic times.

The emphasis is not on the history itself, but on what these prophets taught their own people, and, by extension what they can teach us. In reading the book, at times, I would have liked to see more specificity about the the historical personages, but that was not the primary goal. Each prophet is the deliverer of a specific message: more personal responsibility, or in our own individualistic era, more communal responsibility; the need for a "city on the hill," where like-minded people can gather and draw strength; respect for the earth as a living entity; and a vision into a shared peaceful future.

The learning from peoples who were persecuted and nearly destroyed by the dominant culture is a welcome reminder that benefits and wisdom can arise our of despair and apocalypse. Overall, I felt that the book was worth reading, but attempted to fit the complexities of history into a neat package of lessons. I liked the fact that it ended with hope in the face of all that European culture has done to destroy Native America.… (más)

The world is blazing, flooded, war-torn, bullet-riddled, divided, doomed, headed for apocalypse. In “We Survived the End of the World,” Steven Charleston looks to the wisdom and history of Native Americans, who survived the ultimate apocalypse of genocide under colonialist settlers, for a guide on enduring the seemingly inevitable.

In this book, apocalypse means not only catastrophe but revelation, transformation. Charleston offers the teachings of four Native American prophets, which facilitated the transformation rather than destruction of indigenous people, so that we may avoid destruction as well. Ganiodaiio of the Seneca argued for a spiritual awakening through personal responsibility, from a communal identity (we) to an individual identity (me). Modern society, argues Charleston, needs to shift from individual (me) to communal (we) thinking to unite for change. Tenskwatawa, known as the “Shawnee Prophet,” built Prophetstown as a gathering place for all Native nations, to foster unity and independence and counter division and eradication. Smohalla of the Wanapams taught respect for the earth as a living entity rather than a collection of resources to be exploited, to listen to what the earth is telling us. The vision of Wovoka of the Paiute, “the prophet of the Ghost Dance,” offered people “a way out of fear into belief in the future,” through reconciliation. Common to these teachings are ideas of community, cooperation, respect and compassion, while the author’s overarching theme is hope, all of which are in short supply in today’s world.… (más)