Dee Alexander Brown (1908–2002)

This was the hardest book I have ever read due to it being SO heartbreaking. The idea of people believing God gives them divine right to dominate and exterminate another race leaves me with a huge hole in my gut. It seems completely incredulous to think that anyone could so cold heartedly shoot, kill, brutalize, and mutilate another human being not just for being different but because you covet their territory? It is just so atrocious made even more so by claiming it’s being done in the show more name of a God who loves all. A story of the lust for power, broken promises, and a superiority complex that leads to treating others worse than filth.
Whole tribes... a whole nation, wiped out by greed and envy... it’s no wonder the collective unconscious fears aliens will come to earth and do to them what they did to the Native Americans... show less

This "Indian History of the American West" changed my thinking. I always thought Native American reservations were places (albeit never the most desirable land) set aside for various tribes to continue their lives as sovereign nations. This book depicts them rather as prison camps, where the US government concentrated various tribes, taking away their horses and weapons, and thus their livelihoods. They were not free to leave.

Brown describes the negotiations between US agents and Indians show more following these lines repeatedly: you may as well sell us the land, because if you don't, you know we'll just take it anyway. The US broke treaty after treaty within a few years of their being made, when pioneers, ranchers, and miners exerted pressure. The US government initiated conflict on countless occasions, firing on women and children, attacking sleeping camps of Indians. Indian warriors responded by fighting valiantly to give their women and children time to escape. It breaks my heart to read of the US Army behaving this way.

I finally read this, having intended to for a couple of decades. Somehow I majored in history without reading, or even hearing much about, this book. It focuses on the time from 1860 to 1890, west from the Missouri River into the Rocky Mountains. To frame it with my historical markers, that's the Civil War to the "Closing of the American Frontier," according to Frederick Jackson Turner. I borrowed the copy my brother read in college. Here's a little context: Brown, the author, was white, not Indian. He worked for three decades as a librarian. The book reads like the work of a researcher. The title comes from a poem by a white American poet, quoted at the outset of the book. Crazy Horse's parents buried his bones and heart at an undocumented location near Wounded Knee Creek (p313). The book's title reveals that it's not trying to be comprehensive. Its perspective is invaluable.

You'll want a map of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain longitudes to stay oriented. It was not an easy read, but it's one of the more influential things I've ever read. show less

This is probably the most depressing and tragic book I've ever read. It just goes on and on, injustice after injustice, murder after murder. If it were fiction, you'd have to ding the author for giving no relief. But it's not. Getting through this description of genocide, which happened right here through our own government, is traumatic. So why would I rate it so highly? I loved the respect the author gives to the native Americans, especially with the careful use of quotes directly from show more them, and I love the way each chapter is begun with a list of the more familiar history of what was happening at that time. It makes the events of the battles with the Indians connect with me -- they aren't so very long ago. It's a worthwhile book, and I'm glad I read it, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone. show less

It is hard to know what to say about this book, when so much has already been said, and it was a difficult read. History of European expansion across the West in the 1700’s, from the Native American perspective. Well, it was written by a white man, but the account relates what the Native leaders recorded of events, battles and outcomes. Over and over the same story was told: local tribes welcomed the explorers and settlers they met, gave them food, land, sometimes taught them how to fish show more or hunt local game. Gave them permission to build roads, travel through their horse pastures and hunting grounds, mine for gold. Watched in dismay as wildlife was driven away and became scarce, protested when they were told they had to move, or stay in one place instead of following the game in their nomadic lifestyle. Made agreements to keep the peace in treaties they couldn’t read, and that weren’t kept anyways. Faced continually broken promises, were pushed into corners where the land was inhospitable, they met unfamiliar diseases, there was nothing to eat, provisions were inadequate. Saw their families starve, their women and children ruthlessly killed. Yes some of them retaliated but for the most part it sounds like overwhelmingly the white soldiers and settlers acted without mercy, treated them as less than human, and systematically tried to eradicate them from the earth. With many tribes they succeeded. The Native peoples didn’t have comparable weapons, and they were vastly outnumbered.

The book details many incidents I was somewhat familiar with: the battle of Little Big Horn, the massacre at Wounded Knee- but there are so many I’d never heard of. The chapters are set in more or less chronological order, each tells the story of a different tribe or Native leader. There is quite a bit of overlap as the stories are interconnected and the different tribes that had long fought over territory among themselves, came together to face their overwhelming enemy: us. Key groups mentioned include the Cheyennes, Sioux, Apache, Nez Percé, Utes, Navahos, Comanches and Kiowas.

My copy has a spread of photographs in the center with portraits of famous leaders: Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, Victorio and dozens more. (There is no picture of Crazy Horse). I knew these names but not their stories, before. Their words are eloquent, the predicament they faced an outrage, injustice, a history we should be ashamed of. They were human just like us- some of them acted brashly, or in anger, or retaliated against settlers who had personally done them no wrong. Quite a few displayed a sense of irony or humor towards the soldiers and politicians that pushed them around. But for the most part, I got an immense sense of sorrow and anger from this book. A very good book- but it makes the heart heavy.

from the Dogear Diary show less