The Modoc War

I received an electronic copy of this history from Netgalley, Robert Aquinas McNally, and University of Nebraska Press, Bison Books, in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all, for sharing your hard work with me.

This history Covering the Lost River Modoc Tribe seems more evenhanded than anything I have read concerning these times before. This country, so starkly beautiful, and these democratic and moral people receive an honest and empathetic hearing. It is long overdue. The bibliography is impressive.
I have looked for Modoc related works over the years and found very few. With this list and the internet I will be able to expand my reading. This will go on my research shelf for sure.

I did not have experience with this history before. McNally's book is about as thorough and fair-handed a piece of historical writing as I have ever read. This is the kind of necessary history we need. So much of the history of American conflicts with native tribes is opaque and colored by historical prejudices. This book does a great job of giving us both perspectives and painting with more grays.

This is the story of the war that the United States waged against the Modoc Indians in the Lava Beds of southern Oregon in the late 19th century. The author has done a great job of bringing to life the main players of the story, both Americans and Indians, and discussing their motivations. The Americans were determined to destroy the Modocs largely for the purposes of profit but also because of the mindset at the time that saw the Indians as little better than animals. I appreciated the author’s dip into the history of how this attitude came about in the culture of the time. I found this story to be riveting and thoroughly researched. It still surprises me that as a culture we know so much about the atrocities committed against blacks, but almost nothing about what was committed against the Indians. This is an excellent book in its category and I highly recommend it.

I received a free Kindle copy of The Modoc War: A Story of Fenocide at the Dawn of America's Guilded Age by Robert Aquinas McNally courtesy of Net Galley and University of Nebraska Press , the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review to Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and my nonfiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book as I have an interest in Native American history and I currently live in Oregon where a good deal of this book took place. This is the first book by Robert Aquinas McNally that I have read.

This is a well researched and interesting read. It depics the conflict between the Modocs and the federal and state government. They lived in southern Oregon and northern California and like numerous tribes occupied land that white settlers wanted. They were a small band of Indians that were continually harrased until they surrendered. While the sub title of the books indicates that this is a rant about Indians being all good and whites are all evil, the author does a good job of balancing the reality of the times.

I recommend this book for anyone who has an interest in native american history.

The title of this book caught my interest because I did not remember of ever hearing of the Modoc's. This book was interesting, insightful and well researched. The author did an amazing job of writing not only the good on both sides but also the bad. The insight in to the motivations of people that were involved in this war was well done. This book brings to light an area that has been in the shadows of other more highly profiled encounters with the Native American nation. There is a lot of lost and missing history from this period of time. Wonderful book for an one to read.

A good book that has great history that is well researched. Highly recommend and will be using in the classroom.

I had never heard of this war before and though it took me a while to get through this book it was worth it, sad and at times depressing but worth it.