Great Plains Indians

This is a solid short introduction to Native peoples of the Great Plains, drawing on recent archaeology revising our understanding of Clovis culture, as well as taking seriously oral traditions, winter counts and religious mythology to construct a richly sourced timeline of pre and post contact societies, with a highlight being the application of epidemiology to the 1837 smallpox pandemic. Wishart continues to the present, with a clear explanation of the brutal process of allotments, termination, and the financial settlements and reconstitutions of the 20th century.

Indian culture and history is not something I know much about. The idiom that the victors are the ones who write history is true enough, and I don't recall being taught much about the topic in school. Marginalization is real, ya'll, even in the South where you can't throw a rock without hitting someone who claims some kind of Indian heritage several generations back.

This book is relatively short, but to me, a layman, it seemed like a good overview of the Indians of the Great Plains from ancient times to modern day. Because it was so short I did feel like certain sections could have used more fleshing out, but the writing moved at a quick and interesting pace. Most of the time is spent on the 1800's when the majority of the damage to their way of life was perpetrated, and not a lot of time is spent on their ways before colonization or in the modern day.

I've been trying to pick up and find more books on Indian history because I feel like it's a void in our countries history that no one ever wants to talk about. It's pretty unreal to think about how badly they have been treated by the people who came to take over their land. And the most recompense they've received is from the Indian Claims Commission which was a pittance compared to all the hardships that have been visited upon them. This was definitely worth the read if you're interested in this time period, and some of the stories that aren't told very often.

Concise history of the various tribes of the Great Plains, from "prehistory" to the challenges faced by those living on reservations today. I found the sections about smallpox fascinating. The author does take the stand that what happened to Native Americans after European contact was cultural, rather than physical, genocide, which some readers may or may not agree with (although he does acknowledge that retrospective use of fairly recent terminology like "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" is always tricky). A lot of the narrative is presented through (or in conjunction with) the "white man's" lens, probably due to the reliance of academic history on written citations, but native oral and graphic traditions are recognized.

A brief introduction into how the various indigenous people of the American Great Plains have had their territories taken and lost as well as what the status of these tribes, if you will, are now (which the author contends is actually looking positive population-wise). There's also some wonderful moments that reveal the depth and breadth of our government's sustained strategy of displacing the native populace (as one would expect) but also fascinating glimpses into how land formed culture and the gender dynamics within some tribes.