Rich, as it was, in space, fertility and mineral deposits, settlers came to this land in search of a better life. For, of course, to the white settlers, America was a land of plenty. It was never going to be an equal struggle. To humour these strangers in their strange ways, however, he went through a ceremony of transferring the land and made his mark on a paper for them." "Samoset knew that land came from the Great Spirit, was as endless as the sky, and belonged to no man. Some of the first Indian land was ceded in 1625 by Samoset of the Pemaquid in what is now called New England: It's about the concept of ownership really. Let's see how the Indians began to lose the West. full of the beautiful and expressive imagery of an oral people.īury My Heart At Wounded Knee opens with Columbus and the early English settlers. Brown has found the words of the native peoples of America from journals, court transcripts and from treaties and tied them into an historical narrative. It's painstakingly researched and incredibly detailed but it's not dull. This is the story of the Sioux, the Apache, the Navaho and the Comanche, the story of Sitting Bull, of Crazy Horse, of Geronimo and Chief Joseph. He wrote it to redress the balance, if you like. He wrote it to put different people in your mind's eye. Is that how you think of it? Do you think of Billy the Kid, of "Wanted" posters, of gunfights? Or of prospecting for gold? Or of pioneers, wagon trains and homesteaders? Dee Brown wrote Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee thirty years ago. Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee was published in 1971 - I think before we all became so careful about the terms we use). (I'm saying Indian, not Native American because that is the term used by Dee Brown. It's the story of the American Indian peoples. This is the story told by Dee Brown, it's the story of the people for whom the West was lost. It's long and dense, but eminently readable and a salutary lesson to us all.ĭo you know how the American West was won? Do you think that the American West was won, even? Because, for a lot of people, it wasn't.
Summary: A savage indictment of the genocidal policy Manifest Destiny, which effectively wiped out the indigenous civilisation of the US, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee is a sad, sad book.
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