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

Consider the massacre at Wounded Knee, December 29, 1890. There is no argument that men, women, and children were slaughtered that day cruelly.

At the time, there were medals of honor given to many of the men who fought there:

http://www.history.army.mil/moh/indianwars.html

As time went on, a popular poet, Stephen Vincent Benets, mentioned Wounded Knee in his popular poem "American Names" in 1927:

http://www.whatsoproudlywehail.org/30days30poets-stephen-vincent-benets-american-names

The phrase from this poem was used by Dee Brown in the title of his excellent, ground breaking, and culture shifting work, "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" in 1970:

http://www.amazon.com/Bury-My-Heart-Wounded-Knee/dp/0805086846

What is notable in regards to your question above, is that this work is extremely critical of the American Government's behavior towards Native Americans, yet remains almost required reading in many American High Schools.

However, it remains that those medals of honor still stand. But there are recent rumblings to have those medals rescinded:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/18/massacre-wounded-knee-medals-honor-rescinded

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-huffhannon/wounded-knee-medal-of-honor_b_2664709.html

http://blog.woundedkneemuseum.org/p/rescission-of-medals-of-honor.html

So it is a shifting, evolving truth.

Western nations tend to have greater commitments to free speech, official censorship channels do not have the same power here as in other countries like Russia and Turkey. Therefore, there isn't a "Western historians do not accept" type situation as you suggest because a truly critical eye can dominate in the academia of the West over official pronouncements on sensitive topics. While elsewhere, official pronouncements cannot be criticized without fear of punishment or censure.

This doesn't mean the West has fully addressed past national crimes, it just means critical speech and dissent is more tolerated than in other nations on sensitive topics, generally speaking.

Edited for grammar

I've been reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. The collection of short stories is so truly depressing. The native americans in general were very trusting and desired a meaningful relationship with the white settlers. In the end, however, land disputes gave way to hostilities over and over again.

Man, I love that show.

There are some different and great books about the real history of Deadwood that are worth checking out.

Other stuff you might enjoy re: periods and themes of 19th Century U.S. History.

The Devil In The White City

Rebirth of a Nation

Battle Cry Of Freedom

Tocqueville's Democracy In America

The Johnstown Flood

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee

Desperate Passage

There are tons more but those are some of my favorites, especially Devil In The White City, Bury My Heart and Desperate Passage... for the darker side of history, a'la Deadwood.

>this is silly. By this logic, Africans have the sole right to dominate the world.

Then why do Whites keep yapping about made-up Tibetan genocides and other bullshit? You realize how idiotic white people look when they're talking about "their lands"

http://i.imgur.com/WyRZmaH.jpg

 

>We do want it to be a friendly competition though.

You do not speak for your history or your leaders. Whether you realize this or not (I think you don't, your race as a whole is insanely aggressive and racist)

http://nypost.com/2014/01/05/us-is-the-greatest-threat-to-world-peace-poll/

http://www.globalresearch.ca/a-timeline-of-cia-atrocities/5348804

http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Hope-C-I-Interventions-II--Updated/dp/1567512526/

http://www.amazon.com/Overthrow-Americas-Century-Regime-Change/dp/0805082409/

http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081/

Native Indians

● http://www.amazon.com/Bury-My-Heart-Wounded-Knee/dp/0805086846/

 

Blacks

● http://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Another-Name-Re-Enslavement-Americans/dp/0385722702/

 

Cambodia

http://www.amazon.com/Sideshow-Kissinger-Nixon-Destruction-Cambodia/dp/0671835254/

 

Laos

Hiding America’s War Crimes in Laos | http://thiscantbehappening.net/node/2715

 

Vietnam

● http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Anything-That-Moves-American/dp/1250045061/

● http://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-Program-Americas-Forbidden-Bookshelf-ebook/dp/B00KGMIW6Q/

 

Korea

● http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-History-Korean-1950-1951-Nonconformist/dp/0316817708/

 

Philippines

● http://www.amazon.com/Benevolent-Assimilation-American-Philippines-1899-1903/dp/0300030819/

 

China

● China’s Rise, Fall, and Re-Emergence as a Global Power | http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/03/chinas-rise-fall-and-re-emergence-as-a-global-power/

● USA’s warfare against China ½ | http://www.voltairenet.org/article177063.html

 

That was only USA.

 

>developing a multi-racial coalition to compete against whites.

Why are you surprised?

When Blacks march peacefully, you leaders unleash attack dogs on them. When they finally get to vote, a "mysterious" drug epidemic destroys their areas. If your group would stop being such dicks, these people wouldn't even need a coalition. Look at the context - always. These angry people don't come from haunted houses.

 

>we have a lot of work to do in waking our people up to the nature of group conflict

You are retarded. You have entire international organizations mean to rape and pillage colored nations. ICC = International Caucasian Court. Why haven't USA war crimes (there are dozens) ever been punished? Here's the latest and greatest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RC1Mepk_Sw Why aren't there movements to free Australia, NZ, Canada, America, Hawaii, Guam, etc but a bunch of bs about freeing Tibet?

IMF and World bank http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081/

Anglo five eyes - that's right. five WHITE nations lurking like perverts and peering into everyone's bedrooms.

 

>You keep calling us "racist", which frankly I don't mind, but the implication seems to be that you're not racist, which is ridiculous. We're both doing the same thing, engaging in group competition for the advancement of our groups. Don't believe the leftist lies that you have the moral high ground against the evil white man. Frankly, I think you're better than that.

Tell me. Would you want to switch places with "just as evil Asians" and live in BOTH the West and the East? Where's your centuries long list of war crime committed against whites by "just the same as Whites" Asians? Not one of you would switch places with Asians in either countries. Stop making false equivalences.

 

>Europe has been the home of depraved brutality, as well as of intense beauty. I accept it all.

Good. I can respect that.

Some suggestions:

Oral History/Stories

• The Sons of the Wind: The Sacred Stories of the Lakota - Dooling
  
  
• American Indian Myths and Legends - Erdoes, Ortiz
  
  
• American Indian Trickster Tales - Erdoes, Ortiz
  
  Historical/Educational material
  
  
• Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Contitions of North American Indian; Vol. I & II - Catlin
  
  
• Major Problems in American Indian History - Hertado, Iverson
  
  
• We are Still Here: American Indians in the Twentieth Century - Iverson
  
  
• American Indian Politics and the American Political System - Wilkins, Stark
  
  Native Authors
  
  
• Custer Died For Your Sins - Vine Deloria Jr.
  
  
• Standing in the Light - Young Bear, Theisz
  
  
• The Way to Rainy Mountain - Momaday
  
  
• Prayers of Smoke
  
  
• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West - Brown
  
  Non-Native Authors
  
  
• Neither Wolf nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder - Nerburn
  
  
• The Wolf at Twilight: An Indian Elder's Journey through a Land of Ghosts and Shadows - Nerburn
  
  
  Region Specific
  
  
• Lakota Society - Walker
  
  
• The Lakota and The Black Hills - Ostler
  
  
• Black Elk Speaks - Neihardt
  
  And just for fun, a Movie
  
  
• Dreamkeeper - Steve Barron
  
  Feel free to point out any mistakes, I'll add more should I think of them.
  
  These are just suggestions.

I think the best overall account is Elliott West's The Last Indian War I also really enjoyed Merril Beal's I Will Fight No More Forever, which draws heavily on personal accounts of the conflict. And finally, if you haven't read Dee Brown's Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, you absolutely must. He writes a broad history of American/Indian relations (and it's not a pretty one), and talks about the Nez Perce War.

For clarification, the book details the broad scope of the horrors of Manifest Destiny in the United States with stories from across the continent. It is beautifully written and one of the few for which I searched out a first edition.

This is an excellent read on Native American history and their relation to white Americans – a true classic.

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

The overwhelming majority of historians not only believe genocide was committed, but that the genocide against Indigenous peoples of the Americas by Europeans is the worst genocide in human history. Here's some of the thousands of published books on the subject.

The fact that the genocide wasn't 100% effective in wiping out every single Indigenous person in the Americas doesn't mean it wasn't genocide. Here's the legal definition of genocide. And many ethnic groups were completely killed, notably the Selknam people who were hunted for sport well into the 20th century.

Bison aren't endangered now but they certainly were in the late 19th century. The US government hired private contractors to slaughter as many bison as possible as a means of forcing Plains tribes onto reservations and into submission. Here's an Indian Country Today article on the subject. The Red River War of 1874-5 is the one war in US history where people fought the US government to protect another species, i.e. the last free-roaming herd of bison.

If you are lecturing and trying to educate the public, it behooves you to read up more on the subject. Dee Brown's classic Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is a good place to start.

Louis Hartz: The Liberal Tradition in America

Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies (both volumes)

Eric Fromm's Escape from Freedom

Chalmers Johnson: The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic


Hanah Arendt: Origins of Totalitarianism and On Violence

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

Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers

Capitalism and Slavery

American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America

INSIDE THE COMPANY: CIA DIARY

Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism

The Underground History of American Education: A School Teacher's Intimate Investigation Into the Problem of Modern Schooling

As for books, the best I could find on Amazon (based on ratings) was Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. http://www.oberlin.edu/faculty/gkornbl/H325F09/ is a syllabus I found for a Native American History course that could have some good resources.

Also check out this IamA which may provide some perspective and/or resources or you could PM them.

IAmA Native American who lives on a reservation. AMA

Also there is r/NativeAmerican if you want to ask over there.

>it's just surreal that the natives of this land only gained the right to vote in it less than one century ago and it's kind of sickening to think about how archaic this time is.

I don't want to look like I'm forming a pity party, but the Civil Rights Movement didn't really help out Indian Country. We had to have our own round of protests and fighting in the 1970s. Check out the American Indian Movement, the Occupation of Alcatraz Island and especially the Alcatraz Proclamation, among others. What really stunning is that the American Indian Religious Freedom Act didn't come about until 1978, let alone the fact that they had to pass it at all!

>Are there any books, movies, or another form of media that are true stories or realistic fiction that depict American Indians in a way that you find to be interesting and faithful?

Anything by Vine Deloria, Jr. is awesome, although he is more historian and scientist than he is story-teller. A short list of my favorites:

• Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto
  
• God Is Red: A Native View of Religion
  
• Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact
  
  If you want to read some great fiction that depicts American Indians accurately, start with Sherman Alexie:
  
  
• Smoke Signals
  
• The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
  
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
  
  Outside of those authors, some popular picks are Black Elk Speaks and Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee.
  
  As far as movies go, any self-respecting Indian has seen the movie Smoke Signals dozens of times. Powwow Highway is a favorite of mine, and Dance Me Outside is movie gold, although it doesn't get enough attention.
  
  >I'm thinking - why hasn't HBO or some big network done a drama that focuses on American Indians? This could be a very interesting book, as well... Or is this idea something even somewhat appealing to you as a young American Indian?
  
  I'm not sure what you are thinking, but I have my own ideas. I'd like to see a series that focuses on a single reservation for each episode, and details the hardships that the people of that reservation deal with on a daily basis. Call it a pity party, but there are children in the United States right now that live in houses with dirt floors and sleep on pallets and go to school on 30-year-old school buses on unkempt dirt roads (and sometimes off-road) where they learn a curriculum outdated for a decade or more........ I can go on and on. Get in your car and drive to Pine Ridge Reservation RIGHT NOW, you'll be convinced that you walked into a third world country in the middle of a war. Its not pretty. The corruption in the tribal government needs to be put in the spotlight, and the part that the Federal and State governments have played in this tragedy need to be righted. That's the facts.

Sorry, I forgot to respond to this! I tried to pick out books that are fairly accessible & not loaded with anthropological jargon or the like.

• If you want a really concise overview of Native American history, I recommend North American Indians: A Very Short Introduction. Theda Purdue and Michael Green are/were (Green recently passed away) very important historians in Native American history. (Plus it's adorable that they're married.)
  
  
• One of my favorites is Tiya Miles's Ties That Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom. I like how it shows how race played out in the South in much more complicated ways if we include Native Americans. It reads like a story more than a history book.
  
  
• Tiya Miles also wrote The House on Diamond Hill: A Cherokee Plantation Story. I haven't read it, but I've heard it's good.
  
  
• Nancy Shoemaker's A Strange Likeness: Becoming Red and White in Eighteenth-Century North America is an undergraduate-level analysis of the ways that both Europeans and Natives constructed their identities in opposition to each other. Each chapter covers a specific topic.
  
  
• While I haven't read it, Daniel K. Richter's Facing East From Indian Country: A Native History of Early America is a commonly assigned book in undergrad classes. It places Native Americans at the center of American history, rather than focusing on Europeans.
  
  
• Another commonly assigned book for undergrads that I haven't read: Dee Brown's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
  
  
• Linford D. Fisher's The Indian Great Awakening: Religion and the SHaping of Native Cultures in Early America is a bit more academic due to the topic, but I think it's still pretty accessible. If you're interested in learning about how Native American religions adapted & blended with Christianity, it's a good account.
  
  
• A really important book is Kathleen DuVal's The Native Ground: Indians and Colonists in the Heart of the Continent. Like Fisher's book, it's a little more academic, but it talks about how Native Americans controlled interactions with Europeans in the Mississippi/Arkansas River Valley areas. Instead of Europeans destroying Native cultures, there was a period when Europeans had to adapt to Natives' demands.
  
  
• I find the Red Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s fascinating, but the books & articles I've read are organizational histories and wouldn't be that appealing to a non-specialist. Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee is the most popular book about that movement, but I've never read it.
  
  Sorry for so many suggestions, but I thought I would give a bunch so that you can see what might appeal to you based on your own interests. All the above books are important because they help change our understandings of Native American and American history. Natives are not passive subjects in the books but are active in shaping their own lives.

For those interested, I highly recommend reading Russell Means' autobiography, "Where White Men Fear to Tread."

And, of course, all Americans should read Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."