The Heart of Everything That Is

The book is written very vividly, sometimes very brutally, but gives you a realistic picture of what the american pioneers went through when they settled there. It does not gloss over details and you might think that some of it need not have been written, but the total picture that it gives is an unforgettable one. You are particularly happy with the characterization of the hero

Fairly well written, but has a profound white American - oriented view of American Indian life and way of thinking. It mis-represents Red Cloud as some sort of all-powerful Chinnggis Khan figure. Indians had no 'chiefs' but leaders/elders who did not have traditional power over others; they followed leaders voluntarily. Red Cloud had no empire as implied and many Oglala Lakota followed Crazy Horse instead. Read 'The Journey of Crazy Horse' 2004 Joseph M. Marshall III, a Lakota author. This covers the same history and is refreshing to get an Indian POV.

I've read a lot on Native American history and have a deep empathy for there mistreatment and I believe genocide. The first book I read on the subject like most people was dee browns bury my heart at wounded knee which cut deep which my perception on the creation of modern cultures worldwide. Red cloud and his fight is featured in the book but the depth explored in this book is brutally honest. If you have a romantic view of the Wild West then this book will test that, red cloud comes across has an intelligent but fierce warrior and his guerrilla type group the ' bad faces' who stood in the way of the colonising machine. Acts committed on both sides are unimaginable, using never released material it portrays red cloud as a great military tactician but also cruel, read the chapter on the fetter man massacre and your romantic view will be tested , not in seeing them as savages (which they weren't) but as a people with a different outlook and perception, but to justify there scalping is impossible. Red cloud won the only war against the white man , but still with is intelligence and awareness saw victory was impossible so became the greatest Indian diplomat. If you want the truth, buy this, it's a story which as said has been untold until now .

I really enjoyed the book. Gave me a great insight into the make-up of the various Sioux bands and how they eventually came together under the great man's leadership. I did think the authors allowed a little " Hollywood " to creep into the telling, perhaps they had ambitions for a film. As a matter of fact, Red Clouds story should be a film or tv series. He was without doubt, a great leader and somewhat of a genuine orator.

Native Americans should write books about Native Americans..They are the indigenous peoples of North America..

Perfect condition