New Books in History Marc James Carpenter, "The War on Illahee: Genocide, Complicity, and Cover-Ups in the Pioneer Northwest" (Yale UP, 2025)
Feb 13, 2026
Marc James Carpenter, associate professor and historian of the Pacific Northwest, examines 1850s conflicts as settlers seized Illahee. He explores how violent campaigns against Indigenous nations were reframed into pioneer myths. The conversation covers use of the term genocide, patterns of violence and legal lynchings, and deliberate cover-ups that erased traumatic histories.
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Two-Part Method: War And Cover-Up
- Carpenter frames the book as twofold: documenting forgotten wars and explaining how settler societies covered them up.
- He uses extensive archival evidence and veterans' own writings to reconstruct atrocities.
Research Surprise: Joseph Lane's Crimes
- Carpenter began researching Joseph Lane expecting a minor paper but uncovered Lane's proud accounts of killing and sexual violence.
- Discovering these sources redirected his work into a full book on regional genocides and cover-ups.
Chinook Jargon And Regional Networks
- Chinook jargon functioned as a regional trade language linking many Indigenous nations and settlers.
- Carpenter emphasizes Indigenous interconnectivity pre-contact to counter myths of isolated tribes.
