Rating: 
Summary: A Sorrow in Our Heart, the heart of midwestern history
Review: Years ago I walked with Tecumseh when I read A Sorrow in Our Heart. Not wanting that experience to end, I soon after re-read the book. Walking along the river, I see Tecumseh; seeing the stars at night, I watch for the shooting one, the panther passing across, for Tecumseh. As I see the memorials for Whitley, the "Indian killer", I see Tecumseh. The memorials for Harrison's men at Battleground push me across the swamps to the east to the town Tecumseh built and the Prophet caused to burn after singing battle cries across the swamps to the west where we too have stood on Prophet's rock. So many books read, so many books forgotten. But A Sorrow in our Heart brings together many of the bits and pieces that remain from the time when the land where I live forever changed hands. A people living in balance with nature were so at odds with a people trying to constantly change nature to suit their purposes. The warfare that became such a political issue is at last presented from both sides and helps us understand the deep need for revenge so many felt, explaining to us why the battles continued until one side was nearly annihlated. The atrocities were very real, but not all from one side as made very clear in this book. Revenge is a cancer all of its own. Eckert does present Tecumseh very favorably, as one with the power to rise above and be a diplomat as well as a warrior, but references of Tecumseh from those living in his time indeed present him as a person deserving of the place in history Eckert has finally given him. The native culture is presented to us not as a utopian past, but in a wide enough coverage to let us see differences in politics, morals and lifestyles which comprised the fabric of a people whose future would at the least be forever changed and at the worst forever ended. It is only natural from our understanding of history that times of such upheaval bring forth extraordinary leaders out of necessity. That is the case here. Heroes and heroines arise from need. Tecumseh is the one for his time and his people. He senses the importance and consequences of his actions in the book which I do not believe was contriving too much fictional license from Eckert. I have read extensively of this time period and Eckert compiled and conveyed information superbly. For those wanting a very readable account, the need is met. For those wanting a more thorougly reasearched historical account, reading the endnotes concurrently will more than satisfy the most insatiable appetite for facts. At last the wounds are old enough for perhaps both sides to see and accept some of the whys and question a lot of the injustice. Eckert's thorough use of sources should help people realize the depth of the injustice. The mark of a good book is one which lives on. It has been years since I have read A Sorrow in our Heart but it is always there in view. The writings within arise as I see our muddy waters; watch our plowed ground erode away; hear people struggle with how to deal with prisoners, land use, wildlife management; and wonder what the planet will be like for future generations. For Tecumseh lives on in our hearts although our sorrow is deep. He brings to us a conscience and a reverence which brings hope to our future. One cannot understand American history without this book in their heart.
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