The Cherokee Removal: A Brief History with Documents, 2nd Edition

by Theda Perdue (Editor), Michael D. Green (Editor)

The Cherokee Removal of 1838–1839 unfolded against a complex backdrop of competing ideologies, self-interest, party politics, altruism, and ambition. Using documents that convey Cherokee voices, government policy, and white citizens’ views, Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green present a multifaceted account of this complicated moment in American history. The second edition of this successful, class-tested volume contains four new sources, including the Cherokee Constitution of 1827 and a modern Cherokee’s perspective on the removal. The introduction provides students with succinct historical background. Document headnotes contextualize the selections and draw attention to historical methodology. To aid students’ investigation of this compelling topic, suggestions for further reading, photographs, and a chronology of the Cherokee removal are also included.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Native American, School, Read For School, College, Class

224 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 1995

Reviews

[liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

school book. i better have gotten a 100 on the test.

update: i got a 100 on the test

[kingsley]

reading for school, was pretty interesting

[Fred Daly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not exactly a thrill ride, but very informative. The explanatory material between documents is great -- just the right amount of background, with questions designed for students to think about. I thought some of the documents could have been edited more vigorously; I often found myself wondering, "Why did they include that paragraph?"

[Mel Raschke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A vivid reminder how Andrew Jackson treated Indians. He was a disgrace

[Charles Temm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent review of the subject but it's written to be used as a textbook guide. Its not very in-depth and it skims over much of the actual horrors the Cherokee faced during the leadup to removal West and the actual overland movement.

That said it does do a good job of showing some of the tragedy that was the Cherokee Removal by show casing period legal/government documents and what I think is more important, period letters from both Cherokees/white supporters of their cause and those who for various reasons advocated abrogation of the previous treaties and seizing their lands.

For someone just wanting to know what happened and how, this makes a good short read on the subject.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very important documents. Very sad.

[Eri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read it for my history class. It was a bit boring to read but I learned some new things that were interesting.

[Zach Powers · Rating 1 out of 5]

read for a class. interesting but dry.

[Gr82bprncss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great historical lesson on the Trail of Tears

[Kate McCaskill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank u for helping me with my history paper!

[Oriana]

I had to read and study this for a History course I'm taking, and I quite enjoyed it in the meantime. Good documents to explain what was going on and it is really easy to get through, not very dense.

[Bonnie Elizabeth]

I read this for grad school so I’m not sure how to rate it since it was used for historical research

[Mitch Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing collection of primary sources! Such a great resource for history teachers.

[J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible! The book is short and can be easily read in one day. Anyone with any kind of knowledge about the subject matter will find the book boring as it does not provide any new material. The book is repetitive. The "documents" really aren't documents, rather they are transcriptions of excerpts of the original documents and at times it seems as though the authors are doing nothing more than summarizing the actual documents. Not only do the authors provide an introduction to each section, but they have to provide some sort of introduction to each "document," as well as commentary following. The author's commentaries do not add to the subject matter at hand. Further throughout the book rather than providing more information they keep it "brief," as the title suggests and instruct the reader where to find more information. Finally, the title "The Cherokee Removal" is misleading. The first 23 pages are devoted to the "Introduction" and are spent "setting the stage," if you will. Part 1 offers a view of the changing Cherokee culture. Part 2 discusses the events occurring in Georgia and Part 3 then goes on to discuss the official US policy of the time. All of this is background information, none of it is very detailed and a lot is left out. Part 4 actually starts to discuss the "Cherokee Debate" and finally Part 5, a whopping 15 pages, is about the actual Cherokee Removal. Even still Part 5 does not provide much in the way of first-hand accounts of the actual Cherokee Removal. Definitely would not recommend this book.

[Kenneth Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read for someone looking to learn the basic events but still told from the white mans perspective. The book tries to reveal views from both sides but fails to convey the true travesty of events. It does show how the intrusion of whites effected the Cherokee but from the point of view of whites. Lots of great information and well written.

[Tony Petry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book in one day to help my girlfriend with a report on the Trail of Tears, I have to say this book was great and I learned so much from it that I just couldn't put it down, so many interesting things.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book for my History of Georgia class. It was dry and "academic" but fairly interesting. I didn't really know that much in detail about the Cherokee removal so a lot of it was new information to me. Such a sad time in the history of our state!

[Rachel Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good, brief, non-fiction book that gives a background on the Cherokee Removal and Trail of Tears, if you're interested to read more about the history behind "Thirteen Moons."

[hh · Rating 3 out of 5]

a little cheesy at junctures, but the documents are really great. history-geek goodness.

[Crystal Chan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely in-depth analysis of the incident, describe the incident with a neutral tone with the aid of very helpful evidences/ documents.