Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee Summary

Dee Brown. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company. 1971. Pp xiv, 445. In the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, which was written by Dee Brown and published in 1971, Brown talked about the horrific experiences that the Indians endured while living in America. Residing in the east, and faced with numerous threats, Native American Indian tribes were forced West by the government during the 19th century. The book explained all of the backlashes they received from the government, even though they were promised a better life. Faced with constant wars, invasions, and promises being broken, the Native Americans were far from happy. The beginning of the book explained some background information between the early 1400s and the early 1800s. He discussed the removal of the major tribes such as the Wampanoags, and how they were placed on reservations. Brown then discussed several wars and battles between the government and Native Americans in chronological order, starting with the Navaho Indians in 1860. The thesis of the book is that Native American’s were
As a reader that gets very uninterested if the book is very cut and dry, this book was hard to finish. At certain points, it was so amusing, and at other points, it felt like reading an encyclopedia. Along with maybe a small abundance of facts, the author went into a little too much detail in certain areas. While it is understandable that he was wanting to prove that it was very rough for the Native Americans, he could've said it without going into a lot of fine details. One spot that stuck out to me was where he stated, “Patches of snow and ice lay along the shady sides of the ridges, but the day was bright, the air cold and dry”(Pg 135). This sentence was not completely necessary in this particular area of the book. All in all, he did a very good job writing the