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Summary: A nation shamed ...
Review: As I read this book, I found myself wondering time and again how the United States government could have been so irresponsible, how the Native American Indians survived to walk among us today, and how these wrongs could be righted. Of course, I found no answers, only more questions, but this book put a spotlight on the problems Native Americans have faced for hundreds of years. This book is written from the perspective of the Native American, many times in their own words. It is disheartening to realize that some of my ancestors treated others of my ancestors with such hatred and scorn. I don't believe that all whites were like the ones discussed in this book, but I do believe that many of them were, and that knowledge is discouraging. What I learned from this book, or rather, what this book reiterated to me, is that we should all accept others for who they are; we should embrace diversity; we should love our neighbors. Even though we may not always see eye to eye, this book showed me that we have to find ways to peacefully co-exist. The African-Americans were not the only ethnic group to suffer at the hands of whites; there were many more who deserve recognition as well. I will warn you that this book is heart-wrenching and if you are looking for something that will make you feel good about the way the Native Americans were treated by the government in the 19th century, this isn't for you.
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Summary: Essential Reading
Review: There is not much that has not already been said about Brown's devastating indictment of the US Government and their policy toward Native Americans. In this masterful work, thoroughly researched and told in a heart-breaking manner, Dee Brown brings us face to face with our own shameful past. Time and again, the greed and unfettered desire for westward expansion leads our government to make and break agreements with otherwise peaceful people. Sadly, although the manner in which Native Americans are shuffled off their land form an all too familiar pattern, the story never seems stale or predictable. Indeed, one is struck more by the sense of "now what will they (the US government do) to act in an even more duplicitous manner." While we may want to turn a blind eye to the actions of our government, after reading Brown's seminal work, you will be unable to look at things the same again.
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Summary: The Truth in print but too late.
Review: This book sat on my shelf for almost a year until I finally had the time to give it my full attention and that is what it needs and derserves. Dee Brown explains in every last uncomfortably real detail the plight of the Native Americans in a way that makes you realise who was savage and who was not, I can barely forgive myself for ignoring it for a year but although it may seem daunting at first, you owe it to the lost generations of the wonderful people it details to read this and fully comprehend the message it conveys.
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Summary: Read this now more than ever
Review: Over thirty years after it was first published, Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" is still one of the best written and researched one-volume accounts of the forced removal of the western Native Americans and the conquest of their lands. Brown's prose is simple and direct, and completely lacking in unnecessary pathos, yet the message is conveyed loud and clear. This book should be compulsory reading for American high school and college students, to insure that they have no illusions about our country's past. Also interesting in the context of recent events is that Brown included a quote by Gen. George Crook, a veteran Indian fighter throughout the Great Plains and Southwest, who eventually began to perceive (albeit too little, too late) the flaws in his government's policies. With some qualifications, it could serve as an apt description of certain aspects of America's (and the world's) current political climate: "It is too often the case that . . . newspapers . . . disseminate all sorts of exaggerations and falsehoods about the Indians, which are copied in papers of high character and wide circulation, in other parts of the country, while the Indians' side of the case is rarely ever heard. In this way the people at large get false ideas with reference to the matter. Then when the outbreak does come public attention is turned to the Indians, their crimes and atrocities are alone condemned, while the persons who injustice has driven them to this course escape scot-free and are the loudest in their denunciations."
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Summary: the sad essence of the white mans greed and righteousness
Review: the essence of the white man's greed and righteousness is reflected in this tragic story of the fate of the North Aamerican Indians. A masterfully told history that sears the heart and shames the soul. How the white man impossed his will, and his God of the greenback(in god we trust), over the God of nature, the God of the Indians. How with self-righteousness we imposed our petty world of "right to private property" over the freedom of the Indians. Much is learned of what happens today in this story of the past.
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Summary: No joy in this book
Review: I usually read books for enjoyment and to learn something; didn't enjoy this one very much but I sure did learn a lot. It's the sad and depressing story of what happened to the American Indians during the westward expansion between 1860 and 1890. Each of the 19 chapters could stand alone as a tale of how some Indian tribe was lied to, cheated, abused, or even worse, massacered. I was struck by the never ending courage, hope and patience of the Indians. Despite years of broken treaties and mistreatment at the hands of the U.S government and land grabbing citizens, they still dreamed of a day when they could coexist peacefully with white men. They just wanted to be left alone, on land that belonged to them.
Read this book to get a different perspective on what really happened during that time, but don't expect to feel good after you're done.
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Summary: survey, from the victim's point of view, of the old west
Review: Anyone interested in history should read this book. It is full of extremely poignant stories, each of which would make for a great film or TV mini-series. While it sometimes degnerates into polemic, the facts speak so loudly for themselves that they cannot be ignored. I gave this book as a gift to my wife when she was about to emigrate to the US, more than ten years ago. She gobbled it up and we still discuss it. When I read this book, I wanted to learn more, perhaps read an entire history, about every story or chapter. THere are fascinating characters that crop up, only to abruptly disappear, and many threads left uncovered. This is not a criticism, as it is a survey, but it was frustrating. You will not forget this book. Get it.
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Summary: This Book Ruined My Life
Review: Dee Brown's masterful history of American expansion primarily through the 19th century should definately be required reading in any American History course. Accurately and unbiasedly presented, this is no PC fluff piece, but a true account of the attrocities committted by the United States and its citizens in the aquisition of territory. The account of Colorado's Sand Creek Massacre in which Colorado State Millitiamen literally slaughtered peaceful Cheyennes and later mutilated the corpses for public exhibit was particulary emotional for me - and is the inspiration for the review title. Such a stain! Overall a truly excellent anthology of the Indian Wars of the American West.
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Summary: How the West Was Lost
Review: This works from Dee Brown is a view of the terrible Nazi-Reich-like nature of the Westward expansion of Europeans through 'the New World', and the toll it took on the people already living there. This book should be a required history book in high school and college American History courses. Dee Brown did a great deal of research and traveled all throughout America to make sure he got the story from both sides- whites and Indians. Sadly, as a white American, reading this makes me realize that I should not be proud of my forefathers, but ashamed. But more importantly, it gives me a vicarious view of what the Indians went through (and continue to struggle with), in the name of manifest destiny. What makes this account unique is that it is very scholarly while being very moving at the same time. As a whole, in a factual, heart-wrenching way Dee Brown has captured the Native American's attempts to survive genocide. When you finish, the title of the book will come back to you in a different way.
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Summary: Emotionally gripping account of Indian history
Review: This is an eye-opening account of the harsh treatment suffered by the American Indians. Brown gives accounts of how Indians were herded as cattle, placed on wasteland, were beaten and killed, how women and children were raped and killed, all by the American governemnt. This was truly a sad era in American history of which any American should be ashamed. While the United States is a great nation, we have many shameful events in our history, and this account by Dee Brown of how the Indians were treated as animals is certainly one of the shameful eras in US history. This book is a must read, because we need not turn our back on history, but rather face history in all of its cruel harshness so that we learn from past mistakes in order not to repeat them.
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