Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West

Amazon.com

First published in 1970, this extraordinary book changed the way Americans think about the original inhabitants of their country. Beginning with the Long Walk of the Navajos in 1860 and ending 30 years later with the massacre of Sioux men, women, and children at Wounded Knee in South Dakota, it tells how the American Indians lost their land and lives to a dynamically expanding white society. During these three decades, America's population doubled from 31 million to 62 million. Again and again, promises made to the Indians fell victim to the ruthlessness and greed of settlers pushing westward to make new lives. The Indians were herded off their ancestral lands into ever-shrinking reservations, and were starved and killed if they resisted. It is a truism that "history is written by the victors"; for the first time, this book described the opening of the West from the Indians' viewpoint. Accustomed to stereotypes of Indians as red savages, white Americans were shocked to read the reasoned eloquence of Indian leaders and learn of the bravery with which they and their peoples endured suffering. With meticulous research and in measured language overlaying brutal narrative, Dee Brown focused attention on a national disgrace. Still controversial but with many of its premises now accepted, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee has sold 5 million copies around the world. Thirty years after it first broke onto the national conscience, it has lost none of its importance or emotional impact. --John Stevenson

Book Description

Now a special 30th-anniversary edition in both hardcover and paperback, the classic bestselling history The New York Times called "Original, remarkable, and finally heartbreaking....Impossible to put down"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is Dee Brown's eloquent, fully documented account of the systematic destruction of the American Indian during the second half of the nineteenth century. A national bestseller in hardcover for more than a year after its initial publication, it has sold almost four million copies and has been translated into seventeen languages. For this elegant thirtieth-anniversary edition -- published in both hardcover and paperback -- Brown has contributed an incisive new preface.Using council records, autobiographies, and firsthand descriptions, Brown allows the great chiefs and warriors of the Dakota, Ute, Sioux, Cheyenne, and other tribes to tell us in their own words of the battles, massacres, and broken treaties that finally left them demoralized and defeated. A unique and disturbing narrative told with force and clarity, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee changed forever our vision of how the West was really won.

Customer Reviews:

BURY MY HEART ! (the truth of how our government "won" the west).......2007-10-10

I first read Dee Brown's book, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (1970) as a college assignment. It changed the way I looked at America/our country, America/our history, and America/our land. The book is subtitled "An Indian History Of The American West", and focuses on the period of 1860 to 1890. This was after "The Trail Of Tears" of the 1830s, when the Cherokee, Choctaw, and other Indian nations were forced against their will to evacuate the eastern United States and move west. The book covers the Apaches, the Navajo, the Cheyenne, the Nez Percez, and the Sioux, among others. The wars, the injustices, and the sad fate of men, women, and children who died trying to pack up and move their lives yet once again. Brown doesn't portray the Indians as saints, either, but only as people with limited resources who, too many times, trusted the promises of a government that would, time and time again, go back on it's word, and forcibly humiliate them. Brown also points out that sometimes the Indians overreacted by attacking innocent non-military settlements. Mostly the book is a concise account of the real Manifest Destiny story, and it expels the myths of the old American History 101 textbook, and the romantic Hollywood cowboy/injun-fighter version of our history. It's a tragic and cruel story, really. It's the true story of the progress of one generation of people at the expense of a civilization. Unfortunately that progress was paved with broken promises, injustice, and lives forever lost.

A Wake-up Call for Americans .......2007-09-05

I just (July 2007) acquired my new copy coming from Amazon. I lost my old copy in 1995. I was not naive about politics and government in 1995. Any scintillas of trust in politics and government,are now gone for even more different reasons. This book seems to keep me awake and keeps my ears wider open to what can happen in this country and this world. It is not just about the shameful and bloody acts in our westward expansion. The word "treaty" from these times is a joke. I can also see more about international expansions. America makes large wrongs, as do other countries do to their own people in history. My heart feels buried because Americans, we, made such innumerable, horrendous and cruel acts. This book remains to me as a great "jolt" to my consciousness. He put together a great example of what America did do to the Native American Peoples. Look at the status of the Native American Peoples who are left today.

Original Eye-Opener.......2007-08-03

This book was and contines to be a wake-up call to the asleep teaching of American History. Especially that of Native Americans and most notably our utter ignorance of our history with Latin America.

A great book.......2007-07-01

Bury my heart at wounded knee is a oustanding account of native american history. Very informative and captivating, piquing my interest in native american's. The words tell of a people heroic,caring,hospitable, and understanding almost pushed to the point of annihilation at the hands of conquistadors,whites and others. Sadness,anger,hate, and sympathy are just some of the feelings brought out by reading this book. If you want an unflinching account of native american history this a great place to start.

bury my heart at wounded knee.......2007-06-27

I was told to read this book as i like to read about american history. this is one of the best book i have read. dee brown really did a lot of backgroud work on it .

Average customer rating:

Profound Insight and Lyric Beauty

My Heart Soars
Dan George
Manufacturer: Big Country Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0919654150

Customer Reviews:

Profound Insight and Lyric Beauty.......2000-08-16

This slim volume packs a large and powerful message, beautifully penned and aptly illustrated. For all that European descended Americans have contributed materially to civilization that is good, here lies a poignant telling of the every bit as valuable contribution by Native Americans in terms of understanding the precious, irreplacable spiritual gifts that come from the Creator through the natural world, as the birthright of all. If the dilemma of modern life is alienation and detachment from the physical world, from each other and from ourselves, this book holds the key to the cure. In the use of simple language to express great and universal truths, Dan George may fully be the equal of Kalil Gibran.

Indian Yell: The Heart of an American Insurgency

Average customer rating:

fine writing, but how much new history?
Concise and moving
Provides important connections to today's events and concerns among Indian nations.
Not much learned!
Great survey with bonuses

Indian Yell: The Heart of an American Insurgency
Michael Blake
Manufacturer: Northland Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0873589076

Book Description

Recounting twelve significant battles, and the reverberating consequences of their outcomes, that took place in the American West between the United States and American Indians from 1854 to 1890, this book is filled with harrowing stories of sacrifice and misdeeds that are well documented in the annals of history, as well as others that are less well known. Commonly and callously referred to at the time as the "Indian Problem," this issue, and how it was handled, became the defining factor in shaping how American Indians live today and reflects interestingly on how the American military currently handles conflicts with insurgents throughout the world. Further reading suggestions are offered at the end of each chapter.

Customer Reviews:

fine writing, but how much new history?.......2007-09-26

Blake is a terrific writer, and if you want a place to start learning about the Indian Wars, this is a pretty good one. It's very clean, focused writing, with nice photos at a decent size (unlike the usual grainy small photos publishers skimp on.) But if you want more info, Utley's books are better. And I was a little put off by the sensationalistic chapter titles, like "Shock and Awe." On the other hand, the prose is terrific, and the history is very solid.

Concise and moving.......2007-04-05

A heartbreaking account of 19th century war crimes and genocide in the American west. This is not a liberal rant on the evils of America as you might expect. It is a collection of short historical treatises on key events in Indian-White relations of the 19th century. The events described shed new light on how zealots among private citizens, the military, and the state and federal governments used deception to genocide in dealing with American Indians. To truly understand the history of western expansion, one must face the reality of its cost. Mr. Blake has given us a concise and moving account of a side of history we would rather forget but must face to understand. It is one-sided, indeed. It is also true and long overdue.

Provides important connections to today's events and concerns among Indian nations........2006-10-14

Michael Blake is author of DANCES WITH WOLVES, and in INDIAN YELL: THE HEART OF AN AMERICAN INSURGENCY he not only reviews past practices but connects them to modern-day policies. Twelve significant conflicts receive survey in INDIAN YELLOW, a narrative which covers conflict between Indian and white man during the nation's expansion. The analysis dispels common myths and stereotypes of the Indian Wars, uses research to analyze both military and cultural interactions, and provides important connections to today's events and concerns among Indian nations.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Not much learned!.......2006-10-05

From Michael Blake, author of Dances with Wolves, comes a brief account of the "Indian Problem" between 1854 and 1890, described in Indian Yell: The Heart of an American Insurgency. Blake tries to capture how the American Indian was, and is treated, by picking twelve of most significant conflicts/events in American Indian history.

The dust jacket gives voice to Blake's intention: "Beginning in 1854 with a decrepit cow that wandered onto a Sioux encampment that sparked a slaughter, and ending with the last freezing gasps of breath from the victims of the Wounded Knee in 1890, the horrors and shame of war within our borders is recounted." Sounds fascinating, right?

Unfortunately Blake tries to do too much with too little. If the reader isn't steeped in the history, the reader will be as lost as the Indian way of life. Key information is missing in each event.

For example, in "Deceit," the chapter is supposed to provide illumination on how the Apaches were lied to and the fall of Cochise. Instead, sentences like "A new general, known equally for self-promotion and effectiveness, was installed to oversee a mammoth military commitment" leave the reader wondering what is happening. Which general? Does his name live in the history books? Should I know him? Could it be Custer? His name is never mentioned.

Sentence like the one mentioned abound throughout the book. I found this jarring and interruptive to an already dull narrative.

There are two saving graces to Indian Yell. One is that the chapter titles are creative and interesting "The Music Freezes," "Burned at the Tongue," and "Shock and Awe." Second, is that at the end of each chapter, Blake provides a "Recommended Reading" suggestion to further enlighten the reader of that episode.

As far as reading Indian Yell, readers would be better off taking the author's suggestions and reading his recommendations.

Armchair Interviews says: History lesson that leaves much yet to be learned from this author.

Great survey with bonuses.......2006-09-04

Blake does a fine job stripping each of 12 encounters to its essence, introducing us to compelling characters Indian and White alike.

The bonuses are two. First, each chapter ends with a recommended reading, most of which are new to me and most of which I will pursue. Second, Blake's writing invites the reader to visit the places where the battles occurred. The most intriguing of these is Palo Duro Canyon:

"...the second largest canyon in the United States...Often plunging to depths of one thoudand feet, the canyon cuts finger-like across the Texas Panhandle for more than 100 miles. A river runs through its heart supporting life in multitudes..."

see you there

A Sorrow in Our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh

Average customer rating:

Good Read, Amazing Life
great book about great man
A Masterpiece of Algonquin Historical Writing
One of Eckert's Best
EXCELLENT book

A Sorrow in Our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh
Allan W. Eckert
Manufacturer: Domain
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 055356174X
Release Date: 1993-02-01

Customer Reviews:

Good Read, Amazing Life.......2005-12-02

I highly recommend this biography for older children (15+) or anyone interested in the early American history. It is about Tecumseh, a Shawnee warrior in the Ohio territory in western America during the period from 1768 to 1812. He was witness to the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

The book reads like a colorful novel with plenty of "amplification" notes for extra historical detail. Life was rough in those days for Indians and settlers. There was a lot of distrust on both sides. During this time England, France and America are vying for control of the new world and the various Indian tribes were in the middle of it all. Much of the story takes place in locations familiar to many of us; Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois for example.

It is the story of Tecumseh's amazing life and his efforts to unite native Americans to defend all Indians against the white settlers and their government. It is brutal at times.

The narrative is told from the perspective of the Indian. But I found Eckert to deal pretty evenly with both sides. That was one of the reasons I enjoyed the book so much. Indians and whites both had their fair share good and evil characters. Hope you check it out!

Here is a quote that I really liked:

"So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none. When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home."

Chief Tecumseh, Shawnee Nation

great book about great man.......2004-04-21

I have a new hero. I recently came across this excellent biography of the great Indian leader Tecumseh, and I'm stunned. First, by Tecumseh. This brilliant warrior and visionary understood that civilization is insatiable, and that one must never make peace with the culture that uses any means necessary to kill the indigenous, and to kill the land. This is a powerful account of necessary resistance to the depredations of the dominant culture.
I'm stunned also by the writing. Allan W. Eckert is an extraordinary writer, and tells Tecumseh's story beautifully and movingly. The book is very hard to put down.

A Masterpiece of Algonquin Historical Writing.......2001-11-21

Eckert's A Sorrow in Our Hearts is nothing short of a masterpiece, and will assuredly stand the test of time, perhaps as no other "Native American" history book before it. I have read many hundreds of books on Algonquin history, and nothing I have seen comes close to A Sorrow In Our Hearts in being fair to the individuals involved. Eckert's portrayal of Tunskwatawa as a misguided opportunist may irritate some, but it holds together as the most credible explanation of how things turned out. I turn to this volume over and over again and it never ceases to amaze me the amount of useful information that it contains. It maintains a high level of historical accuracy without losing the mystical feeling of standing in Tecumseh's presence, seeing the world through his eyes, and the bracing sense of strength, courage and upliftment that those around him must have felt. If there were a sixth star to award this book, I would not hesitate to add it to my review.
I have stood by that battlefield where he died and heard the accounts of his demise and burial from a descendant of those who were there and I sense the greatness of the man, and somehow Eckert has managed to do him justice through a medium that is not always compatible with the Algonquin way, and it makes me feel that sorrow to which he refers. We all must die sooner or later, but Tecumseh was still a young man (younger than I am now) when he died at the battle of the Thames. When I am buried, let them lay me to rest with only a well worn copy of Eckert's A Sorrow In Our Hearts in my hands.
Evan Pritchard
Professor of Native American History, Marist College
author of Native New Yorkers, The Remarkable Legacy of the Algonquin People of New York;
No Word For Time, the Way of the Algonquin People, etc.

One of Eckert's Best.......2001-09-27

"A Sorrow In Our Heart" is definately one of Eckert's best historical novels, right next to "The Frontiersmen" and "Dark and Bloody River". It, of course, tells the story of the Shawnee leader Tecumseh, who has been hailed by many as the greatest Indian leader of all time. Tecumseh came closer than any other before or after him to saving his people from total destruction by the whites on the eastern frontier in the early 19th century. In the end, Tecumseh's death is not just a loss in the Indians' long struggle against the Americans, it signals the death knell for their way of life, as their defeat in the War of 1812 sealed their fate on the North American continent. A great and a wonderfully entertaining book, history has never been so hard to put down.

EXCELLENT book.......2001-05-19

This is an amazing true story woven expertly by Eckert!

Where the Broken Heart Still Beats: The Story of Cynthia Ann Parker

Average customer rating:

Where the Broken Heart Still Beats, the story of Cynthia Ann Parker
Cynthia Ann Parker has always fascinated me and her life was hard.
Historical significance
book review
Will the broken heart still beat?

Where the Broken Heart Still Beats: The Story of Cynthia Ann Parker
Carolyn Meyer
Manufacturer: Gulliver Books Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Children's Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0152956026

Book Description

At the age of nine, Cynthia Ann Parker was captured in an Indian raid and taken to live as a slave with the Comanche. Twenty-four years later, she is the wife of a chief and the mother of a young warrior destined to become the great chief Quanah Parker. But in 1861 Cynthia Ann Parker and her infant daughter are recaptured, and returned against their will to a white settlement. “A skillful examination of how individual identity is determined by cultural and social structures, and of what happens when these are drastically altered.”--Kirkus Reviews

Customer Reviews:

Where the Broken Heart Still Beats, the story of Cynthia Ann Parker.......2007-10-10

Book arrived quickly and in new condition. Its a good book and easily read by younger readers.

Cynthia Ann Parker has always fascinated me and her life was hard........2007-10-02

This is a wonderful book about the little white girl taken by Indians in central Texas at age 10. She was later married to Indian Chief and bore 3 children. One of her sons was Quanah Parker, famous in his own right.

Don't miss this account of her life. I could not put it down until I had finished reading it.

Historical significance.......2007-09-19

This is an interesting concept on the history of Cynthia Ann Parker, captured as a child and raised by Indians. This work is focused on the history of the episode and Parker's return and foreced residence among a family she barely remembered. Although Parker rarely communicated her history, the author postures the cruelty of her Indian Captors. One must compare how this story contradicts other works such as "Ride the Wind" by Lucia St. Clair Robson. Robson puts forth the opposite opinion and relates how good the Indians were to the children they took and raised.

book review.......2007-05-19

After we read where the broken heart still beats by Carolyn Meyer I could understand why Cynthia Ann wanted to go back with her people. I could also see why Meyer wrote this book.
Cynthia Ann thought she was a Comanche because she was captured by them when she was 9-years-old. Her family captured her 25 years later and took her in to comfort her. She didn't take to her real life that much.
I could see why she wanted to go back to her people. She lived most of her life with the comanches so she doesn't know that much about her old life. She made a family in her other life so she really really wants to go back.
You should read this book if you want an adventure. This book is really interesting and worth it if you want to read it. I recommend this book you people in middle school. Also to people that are older than 13.

Will the broken heart still beat?.......2007-05-19

After we read Where the Broken Heart Still Beats by Carolyn Meyer I could tell why Cynthia Ann wanted to go back with the Comanches. I also see why Meyer wrote this book. It makes you feel like you a really there with her and you feel how she feels. It makes you feel sometimes you wish you go and tell her Uncle just let her go back.
Cynthia Ann thought that that she was part of the Comanche tribe and they are not the ones that captured her. She thought that they were her family and her real family where the ones that captured but they rescued her. She had lived with them so long and thought she was a Comanche. She had a husband and kids there and she wanted to be with them.
I really see why she wanted to go back with the Comanche's. She had her family and wanted to see her son. She also wanted her little daughter, Topsannah, to see how they lived. She talked how they talked and acted like them she needed to be with the Comanche's.
You should read this book if you like books that go back and forth and if you like happy and sad books. I think that if you like biography you would really like this book. In some parts you will feel like you are sitting with Cynthia Ann.

The Wind Is My Mother: The Life and Teachings of a Native American Shaman

Average customer rating:

The Wind Is My Mother
The Wind is My Mother
Excellent Book !!
Honest and from the heart.
Bear Heart touched my heart

The Wind Is My Mother: The Life and Teachings of a Native American Shaman
Bear Heart
Manufacturer: Berkley Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Native American | Earth-Based Religions | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0425161609

Book Description

With eloquent simplicity, Bear Heart, a full-blooded and traditionally trained healer of the Muskogee Creek tribe, shares a lifetime of training. In sections titled "The Cure Lies Within You" and "Learning How To Live," Bear Heart weaves together anecdotes and philosophy to show how traditional tribal wisdom can help us maintain mental, spiritual and physical health in today's world. We journey with him from his initiation into the Muskogee Creek's "medicine ways" in 1938 (when he walked unharmed through a den of rattlesnakes) to his role as a respected elder and counselor whose gentle words spring from a lifetime of service. He describes the lessons learned in ceremonies conducted in the sweat lodge and the Native American Church; he explains why Native people pray with peyote and smoke the Sacred Pipe and how vision quests can bring clarity and personal revelation. Throughout, Bear Heart's teachings stress the importance of self-knowledge, integrity, and being open to the guidance of the Great Spirit. Through inspiring stories and examples, he teaches us how to live.

Customer Reviews:

The Wind Is My Mother.......2007-06-09

Bear Heart successfully links traditional beliefs to contemporary times to help the reader understand the Native American culture. The life lessons and principles that he shares can be applied by anyone interested in enriching his/her spiritual life. I selected as a reading for my book club (a diverse group of individuals) and it was well received and enjoyed by all.

The Wind is My Mother.......2007-05-12

Very insightful and honest. For those of you that like American Indian stories, this is the book for you.

Excellent Book !!.......2007-03-24

I realy enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it!
A must read!!

~~~~Treasures~~~~~

Honest and from the heart........2007-01-20

Having read many books and heard many teachers of shamaic and native american teachings my heart and spirit truely opened and felt at peace reading every word of this beautiful book. Such simple and heart felt wisdom for all of us. I truely feel that if we could all embrase this beautiful life and planet that we share so much of the worlds problems would no longer be. Thank you for writing such a simple and enlightening book Bear Heart, I will be sharing it with many and encouraging many to read it.
Tania "Little Hawk" Dawkins.

Bear Heart touched my heart.......2007-01-11

Over the past years, I have had several copies of this book. Each time I loan one out, it seems to get passed around in an ever wider circle. I have read this book many times thru the years, and each time find beauty in it's pages. For anyone who is open to the Wisdom of the Native Americans, this is a "must read". I teach spirituality classes for an inter-faith group, and this book is required reading. "The Wind Is My Mother" has great depth and range. It is a book that you can read, experience life, and read again. Read first the very last page of this book, and then read the book! May it help you to find more balance and peace in your life.

Weetamoo: Heart of the Pocassets, Massachusetts, 1653 (The Royal Diaries)

Average customer rating:

Wonderful!
Weetamoo
Enjoyable, but lacks solid information.
Warrior woman Weetamoo depicted as a child!
heart of the pocassets

Weetamoo: Heart of the Pocassets, Massachusetts, 1653 (The Royal Diaries)
Patricia Clark Smith
Manufacturer: Scholastic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Royalty | People & Places | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Children's Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0439129109

Book Description

It is 1654 in New England, native land of Algonquin tribes, among them the Pocasset, Wampanoag, and Narrangansett people. The pilgrims -- called Coat-men by the Wampanoag -- have settled here in the natives' territory at Patuxit, a place that the Pilgrims have renamed Plymouth. Weetamoo's father, Corbitant, is sachem, or chief, of the Pocassets. He is mistrustful of the colonists and imparts his beliefs about them to his daughter, who is next in line to become chief. Weetamoo must learn the fundamental values and disciplines of a true Pocasset chief, but she must also be prepared for

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful!.......2006-07-29

I loved the adventures of Weetamoo, and I wanted to read more even though the book was done!

Weetamoo.......2005-12-18

Weetamoo is the inspiring story of a young Native American girl who strives to become a woman and for patience. The beginning starts out kind of slow, and it's hard to get into. But if you keep reading then you really get into it. It was interesting to see the way she changed throughout the diary. It was also interesting to find out the way the authour took a real historical character and turned her into a fictional one. Her true life story is really tragic, and so is the end of the book. It depends on your age weather I'd recommend it or not. It can be a little childish and too easy to read at times. Other than that, it's a great story!

Enjoyable, but lacks solid information........2005-08-14

"Weetamoo: Heart of the Pocassets, Massachusetts, 1653" took me by surprise, since I did not know about this woman, and because she did not know how to read or write. This last fact made it harder for me to let myself into her world, knowing that the things in her diary may not have happened that way, much less at all. If you set this historical bungle aside, then the story is quite interesting, but slow-going. I really wanted to know more about the "Coat-men" (the English settlers) according to Weetamoo, and I felt the ending was very hasty. Much research and time went into this book, and I give credit to author Patricia Clark Smith for undertaking such a task, and I blame myself for not truly appreciating it, since I was caught up in the accuracy or their lack of it. Since not much is known about Weetamoo, I had trouble seeing her through this diary, and after a while, I had to resign myself to thinking that this diary belonged to an ordinary Native American girl. If you can look past the lack of information about Weetamoo, then this could be an enjoyable book. I "sorta" recommend.

Warrior woman Weetamoo depicted as a child!.......2005-08-07

I had always thought of Weetamoo as the powerful warrior woman who entered King Phillip's war with style and grace. Many thought her a killer and a savage, but this book depicts Weetamoo as a young teenager in Massachusetts. The year is 1653 and Weetamoo is a 14 year old girl, eldest daughter of Corbitant, the chief of the Pocasset people. They are what they call themselves: the 'Wampanoag' nation, and many of them have expressed interest in the English 'coat-men' that have recently sailed into Massachusetts. Many of their tribe have changed their religion to use the English materials instead of their poor, natural ones. Weetamoo, too expresses interest in the 'coat-men and women' while she plays snowsnake with other children of her tribe and from other tribes. Weetamoo lives a simple, carefree life in her Pocasette Tribe, playing with friends and finding love. Until she has a secret vision during a fasting ceremony of the squared eyed godess 'Squant' Weetamoo knows she must do whatever she can to save the Pocassets. I enjoyed this Royal Diary and found it very interesting with it's gods and traditional Pocassett life.

heart of the pocassets.......2005-05-14

Weetamoo is a girl from 1653 and she is a pretty average teenager. She has to travel from Massachusetts to Rhode Island. With her family and village, They make it. The problem isthat Weetamoo had to suffer harsh cold, feets of snow winters. Very hot summers. All as well as doing all her chores.
If you like diaries and stories of Native Americans. You will for sure like this book.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West

Average customer rating:

Terrible!
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
The Native American's Perspective
The worst "history" of the Indian Wars ever written.
This is a MUST read book!

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West
Dee Brown
Manufacturer: Holt, Rinehart & Winston
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0030853222

Book Description

BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE is an eloquent, fully-documented account of the systematic destruction of American Indians during the second half of the 19th century.

Using council records, autobiographies and other firsthand descriptions, Dee Brown allows the great chiefs and warriors of the Dakota, Ute, Sioux and Cheyenne to tell us about the battles, massacres and broken treaties that finally left them demoralized and defeated. Sadly, this is how the west was really won.

"Fascinating and painful." (The Wall Street Journal)

"Strongly and ardently written." (The New Yorker)

Customer Reviews:

Terrible!.......2005-10-10

"BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE" was assigned as my 9th grade Honors U.S. History II summer reading assignment. My class was told that it would help to lead us into this chapter in our history class. The first day of school, the teacher asked us how the book was coming along and found out firsthand just how open a class we are. We all hated it. It was terrible! Every chapter tells a different tribe's story, but it was all the same. This book was so repetitive. There is a fight, there is a treaty, the whites break the treaty, there is another fight, and the Indians endure a terrible massacre. I was saddened to read about the poor Indians, but it got a little old after the first 5 times or so. Many of the people in my class are having so much trouble getting through the book, that they are either skimming through the book and risking the bad grade, or are buying the summary of each chapter off of a website. The review on the front of the book reads, "...Impossible to put down." I found this true because after around 20 pages of reading this book, I would fall asleep with the book in my hand. If you are planning to read this book, please understand how repetitive it is and rethink your decision.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.......2003-05-12

Absolutely one of the most thought provoking books I have read. I enjoyed this book so much I did not want to put it down nor have it end.

The Native American's Perspective.......2000-06-21

This book is essentially a collection of short narrative about the struggles of various Native American cultures in what became the United States. The book is written from the perspective of the Native Americans, and thus has a different emphasis than many of today's high school U.S. History texts (at least not the same emphasis as mine had). I really enjoyed the reading. It was new to hear the side of the story we almost never consider. I would recommend this book to anyone.

The worst "history" of the Indian Wars ever written........1999-05-24

Apparently Dee Brown thought the sufferings of 19th-century American Indians weren't ghastly enough to impress hippie readers back in the Age of Aquarius, so he proceeds to fake things. Brown doesn't merely "slant" things to a degree that amounts to a hallucinatory experience, but makes things up outright. Anxious to make G.A. Custer look bad for the Washita attack, he invents casualty figures, claiming that Custer killed 103 Cheyennes, only eleven of whom were men! (As anthropologist John Greenway observed, massacres of Indians, in the neononsense of Brown and his associates, are not indiscriminate, but rigorously discriminate, consisting solely of women and children.) Brown either covers up Indian atrocities (particularly those of the Apaches) or tries to lie his way out of them by providing some bogus excuse; according to him, the Sioux's Minnesota massacre of some 400 white settlers one fine day in 1862 simply never happened.

He can't even get the small parts right, even depicting Custer's men as carrying sabers at the Little Bighorn. One can find out nothing about the American Indians of the West from reading Brown's book, perhaps because he's not really interested in them save as victims for his guilt-stricken white readership.

As for Brown's claim that his book is an "Indian history," based on Indian accounts gathered at treaty councils or immured in obscure government documents, this is but another falsehood. He could have written the thing in two weeks, ripping off standard books in print -- including Custer's memoir "My Life on the Plains"! No original research was involved.

This is a MUST read book!.......1999-03-27

As I read this book of unimaginable hardship for the American Indians, my very soul was pained. For it offers the most truthful history of the removal of the Indians from THEIR homeland I have ever read. My heart aches with the knowledge that my anscestors lived both sides of the war mentioned in this book. My blood is thick with Irish and Cherokee...ironic, isn't it? I, as so many others I am sure, feel torn by the horror that the first Americans had to endure at the hands of those who set up colonies here. This is the first book I have read that tells the story from the view of the Natives instead of the white man. I am proud of my Native American heritage, therefore, I feel that this book is of ultimate importance to those of us who yearn for understanding. While I am hurt and somewhat angered by the history, it is imperitive that I learn both sides of this story. Unfortunately, the only history offered in school is one-sided, thus, imperfect. Let us all long to hear the songs of the first true Americans...The Native American Indians. When you have read this book in its entirety, your understanding will be opened. If we had only listened to "those savages" our respect for the land would be great and our natural resources wouldn't be at risk today. Be prepared to feel the emotions of a multitude; raped, murdered, starved, enslaved and stripped of dignity. This book is definitely one that should hold a prestigious place in every library in America!

From Sand Creek: Rising in This Heart Which Is Our America (Sun Tracks)

Average customer rating:

Offers a spiritual center

From Sand Creek: Rising in This Heart Which Is Our America (Sun Tracks)
Simon J. Ortiz
Manufacturer: University of Arizona Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0816519935

Customer Reviews:

Offers a spiritual center.......2000-04-14

In November 1864 in Colorado Territory a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho was savagely assaulted by the Colorado Volunteers under the leadership of the Reverend Colonel Chivington. Ortiz calls to mind this event in prose, and then offers on the facing page poetry of hope and renewal. That is how this remarkable book begins. Throughout the book, the author (one of the best American poets writing today) pairs poems on one page with historical vignettes, personal notes, and political comments on the facing page. The book moves through alcohol treatment in VA hospitals, American mythology that undergirds a sense of mission, episodes in Indian-white relations, and many other such topics. In this work Ortiz builds toward a vision of America that is political committed, spiritually centered, and humanizing. He expresses this vision in full knowledge and acceptance of the awful truths of patterns of mistreatment and oppression. Unlike so much of the patriotism that is rooted in a "my country right or wrong" attitude, Ortiz writes as an Acoma Pueblo Indian and US citizen who loves this country deeply for what it can be.

I came to this book a number of years ago full of anger and cynicism developing as a result of learning the history that had been suppressed from the school curriculum. I had always been deeply patriotic, but was finding the truth might shatter that. Ortiz offered more evidence of the lies, but placed these facts in a framework of a dream "of love and compassion and knowledge" (96). No book has done more for the development of my sense of myself as a white American. From my point of view this book is simply the best book in print (and it was out of print for several years).

Average customer rating:

Nicely paced read...I learned a lot and enjoyed it

Timely read! Made me want to visit Jamestown again!

What a great read, please tell us more of Smith's earlier story

Good, readable popular history, but with a doozy of a mistake

Engaging

Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Heart of a New Nation
David Price
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Native American | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | Colonial Period | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
Virginia | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
South | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | United States | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Land As God Made It: Jamestown And the Birth of America

Jamestown, the Buried Truth

Pocahontas, Powhatan, Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown

Captain John Smith: Jamestown and the Birth of the American Dream

The Jamestown Adventure: Accounts of the Virginia Colony, 1605-1614 (Real Voices, Real History)

ASIN: 0375415416
Release Date: 2003-10-07

Book Description

A gripping narrative of one of the great survival stories of American history: the opening of the first permanent English settlement in the New World. Drawing on period letters and chronicles, and on the papers of the Virginia Company–which financed the settlement of Jamestown–David Price tells a tale of cowardice and courage, stupidity and brilliance, tragedy and costly triumph. He takes us into the day-to-day existence of the English men and women whose charge was to find gold and a route to the Orient, and who found, instead, hardship and wretched misery. Death, in fact, became the settlers’ most faithful companion, and their infighting was ceaseless.

Price offers a rare balanced view of the relationship between the settlers and the natives. He unravels the crucial role of Pocahontas, a young woman whose reality has been obscured by centuries of legend and misinformation (and, more recently, animation). He paints indelible portraits of Chief Powhatan, the aged monarch who came close to ending the colony’s existence, and Captain John Smith, the former mercenary and slave, whose disdain for class distinctions infuriated many around him–even as his resourcefulness made him essential to the colony’s success.

Love and Hate in Jamestown is a superb work of popular history, reminding us of the horrors and heroism that marked the dawning of our nation.

Customer Reviews:

Nicely paced read...I learned a lot and enjoyed it.......2007-07-10

I really enjoyed this work and enjoyed its pacing and the way the author weaved the historical narrative with the characters and the sense of timeline. A great overview of the period and I would recommend this one. A well balanced book to help the reader understand the period and how things were viewed. In fact I was anxious to see if I could get other books by this author!

Timely read! Made me want to visit Jamestown again!.......2007-05-07

Easy read. Couldn't imagine how I missed some of these details in US History, but nonetheless so glad I picked it up - could not put it down.

What a great read, please tell us more of Smith's earlier story.......2007-04-12

Love and Hate in Jamestown is a very enjoyable and very readable antidote to the usual Pocahontas nonsense cooked up by disney and more recently presented in the new world. Chock full of well researched facts and anecdotes about this remarkable chapter in America's history. Price's accounts about John Smith's life before he came to Virginia sounds at least as fascinating as what he achieved once he was in Virginia. He stands as one of the archetypes of the early Americans, combining all of those qualities good and bad, which have ultimately defined us as a people.

Good, readable popular history, but with a doozy of a mistake.......2007-04-05

Smoothly written and, for the most part, well edited, this is probably a fine introduction to the history of the Virginia colony in the early 17th century.

There are two flaws, one minor and one major. First, the author (or, more likely, the editors) sometimes dumbs down too much (e.g., he takes a paragraph to explain what "trade winds" are, and defines "longitude"--readers would either know about these already or have a dictionary at hand). Second, the book's one map of eastern Virginia has an inexcusable error: Jamestown is shown to be in the area of modern-day Fort Eustis, about 10 miles east of where it really was! This is equivalent to publishing an account of the New Netherlands with a map showing New Amsterdam in the Bronx, or one of the New England Puritans that has them siting Boston where Newton is. I hope this was noticed and fixed for the paperback and other editions.

Engaging.......2007-01-20

I really enjoyed reading this book. I found myself anxious to get home to read it every night. Price was very informative and his writing flowed nicely. My wife and I look forward to our trip to Jamestown for the 400th anniversary.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books