"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee": A Historical Account of Native American Experiences in the American West

dpd: I listened to the audio version of “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” narrated by Grover Gardner. Dee Brown’s 1971 classic has been required reading in many colleges for decades and for good reason. However, a quick Google search of the title confirmed what I suspected: it is banned in many high schools (notably, but not surprisingly, in Florida) presumably because it might “make kids feel bad about themselves.” And the book should make every person who reads it feel bad, not about themselves but about their ancestors. The treatment of the American Indian is beyond shocking. It’s immoral, and in a country that considers itself a “Christian country,” it’s anything but Christian. “Bury My Heart in Wounded Knee” should be required reading at some point in every social studies department of every high school in the U.S.

United States on Jan 31, 2024

acompton: I didn't know much about the specifics of native american history prior to reading this book, and it won't be too much of a spoiler to say it is harrowing. This book generally covers one or two tribes per chapter and an important period of time for each. You learn a huge amount, woth plenty of evidence from the time to give both credibility and atmosphere to the telling. It can feel a bit relentless at times, and is definitely a heartbreaking account of what was a brutal period, but well worth reading.

United Kingdom on Jan 01, 2024

blake: This book is filed with knowledgeable information that really makes the reader feel for the indigenous folks of America. Reading the story’s within this book really packs a powerful punch to one’s heart, my only complaint is that it wasn’t only a tough read in terms of emotions, it was also tough to keep me wanting to read the book, a lot of fact dropping made it kind of hard to follow along and it made me feel discouraged to continue reading and after reading sessions I didn’t look forward to picking up the book and continuing. All in all the story is powerful and well meaning I just wish it was easier to follow along and more emotion was applied to the text to further immerse the reader into the story.

United States on Dec 27, 2023

Feli-Mar Barbero: Nice reading

Canada on Dec 09, 2023

Fernando: Libro imprescindible si se quiere ahondar en la historia de los pueblos amerindios. Triste, pero realista.

Spain on Jan 02, 2023

Reto Ehrler: So sad to read this book but necessary to understand the evil the white man brought to Amerika. Everybody should know about that and read it.

Mexico on May 13, 2022

Roos Van Espen: The history written from the perspective of the native Americans, by using eyewitnesses, and official documents.
A painful book to read, also one that teaches us some important lessons:
The Native Indians teach us to respect nature, not to kill animals except when we need to eat them, and to keep nature intact as much as possible.
The also teach us to stay true to your word. Whereas the Europeans took use of the native Americans' holding to their word, the latter learned the bad way that Europeans' promises meant nothing for them. You cannot but respect the native Americans for it.
But also: unification brings strength, something the native Americans realised too late. As they were too shattered, too much fighting eachother on their borders, and not taking heed of their breathren's bad luck with the Europeans, they didn't act properly. It was too little too late. Not being unified, not having strong enough leaders to unite, except for a few...while one headchief would sign a peace treaty, some of his followers would take revenge on the Europeans for killing their loved ones...which made the Europeans in turn take revenge...on the chief who signed the...

Germany on Aug 12, 2021

S: I'm not sure how to put into words how important this book is. It took me almost a month to read it because I felt that I had to focus and try to retain everything on the page, it was that engrossing. The book has extensive research, endnotes, a bibliography, and index to make this one of, if not, the best books on the history of Native Americans during the time of the Civil War to about 1890.

The chapters are all heartbreaking accounts of the atrocities that Indians were subjected to during the greedy expansion of the United States. I don't need to list all of them, as it would give less weight to their magnitude, but the most horrific chapter for me was Chapter 4 (I think). It's about the massacre at Sand Creek and the brutality of that battle is unreal. I got physically ill as I read each sentence with my heart pounding and breaking with each beat.

I can't give this book a thorough review because I think the Kindle version is cumbersome to "flip" around in and give specific examples, but I really recommend this book to everyone who is interested in history and who wants solid accounts of these moments in history. I can't say it's unbiased in the...

United States on May 31, 2020

Rachel Elaine: "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" picks up where "The Trail of Tears" by Gloria Jahoda ends, for a continued look into a history where the home of the Brave was taken as the land for free after Columbus "discovered" the already inhabited land and named her America.

Dee Brown has done a brilliant job compiling and writing "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee: An Indian History of The American West" almost as if this book were a first-eye report during the 1860-1890 era, a time when the growing crowd of white settlers moved westward in search of more land and after the eastern Native American tribes had already been systematically removed from the east toward the west. The work includes photographs of chiefs and people of prominence within each respective chapter of time. At the back of the book, there is an index for reference. The beginning of each chapter is prefaced with a time-line of other world events for perspective as well as the obviously well-thought-out quotes of important Native American Indians. Legendary Native American Indian tribes, chiefs and warriors included in this book are: Navaho, Modoc, the many branches of Dakota (Sioux), Nez Perces,...

United States on Nov 06, 2006