The Earth Is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West - Hardcover

Cozzens, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0307958043 ISBN 13: 9780307958044

Publisher: Knopf, 2016

Synopsis

"Sets a new standard for Western Indian Wars history." —Stuart Rosebrook, True West Magazine
 
*Winner of the Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History and the 2017 Caroline Bancroft History Prize
 
*Finalist for the Western Writers of America’s 2017 Spur Award in Best Western Historical Nonfiction

Bringing together a pageant of fascinating characters including Custer, Sherman, Grant, and a host of other military and political figures, as well as great native leaders such as Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Geronimo, and Red Cloud, The Earth is Weeping—lauded by Booklist as “a beautifully written work of understanding and compassion”—is the fullest account to date of how the West was won...and lost.

With the end of the Civil War, the nation recommenced its expansion onto traditional Indian tribal lands, setting off a wide-ranging conflict that would last more than three decades. In an exploration of the wars and negotiations that destroyed tribal ways of life even as they made possible the emergence of the modern United States, Peter Cozzens gives us both sides in comprehensive and singularly intimate detail. He illuminates the encroachment experienced by the tribes and the tribal conflicts over whether to fight or make peace, and explores the squalid lives of soldiers posted to the frontier and the ethical quandaries faced by generals who often sympathized with their native enemies.

*A Times "History Book of the Year" and A Smithsonian "Top History Book of 2016"
 
*Shortlisted for Military History Magazine's Book of the Year Award

About this title

Review:

An Amazon Best Book of November 2016: Why write a book about the Indian Wars when we already have Dee Brown’s seminal 1970 account Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee? It turns out there’s a very good reason. While Dee Brown’s book greatly informed our modern view of the conflict between Native Americans and the United States government, it didn’t get everything right. Put very simply, the Indians weren’t all good and the white people weren’t all bad. In fact, especially with the Native Americans, it was much more complicated than that. As an example, inter-tribe rivalries led to strategic decisions—like siding with the U.S. government—that made sense given the landscape of power. This is a story of survival, one that unfolds under the shadow of a predetermined tragedy. If you’re at all interested in the Indian Wars, this scrupulous and even-handed account is essential reading. --Chris Schluep, The Amazon Book Review

About the Author:

PETER COZZENS is the author or editor of sixteen acclaimed books on the American Civil War and the Indian Wars of the American West, and a member of the Advisory Council of the Lincoln Prize. In 2002 he was awarded the American Foreign Service Association's highest honor, the William R. Rivkin Award, given annually to one Foreign Service Officer for exemplary moral courage, integrity, and creative dissent.

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0307958043
• ISBN 13: 9780307958044
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 576