Trails of Tears: American Indians Driven from Their Lands

by Jeanne Williams, Michael Taylor (editor)

Describes the white man's treatment and forcible displacement of five Indian nations of the Southwest--the Comanche, Cheyenne, Apache, Navajo, and Cherokee.

187 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1972

About the author

Pseudonyms: Megan Castell, Jeanne Crecy, Jeanne Foster, Deirdre Rowan, Kristian Michaels, J.R. Williams

Reviews

[Kyle Neuschwander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trails of Tears is a book that details how the Indian nations were treated through mid-American history. It tells the stories of the Comanche, the Cheyenne, the Apache, the Navajo, and the Cherokee. It explains how they were displaced from their homes, and how they were treated on the reservations. The book says there was one group of people in America that were different from the colonizers “Indians who suffered the seizure of their lands”(p.7). They were living in their homes that they lived in for centuries and unexpectedly these foreigners came and took their lands and they “endured soul-bruising, body-maiming forced migrations”(p.7).

I thought the book was okay. It talked about the Indians' stories and culture, which was interesting. But it seemed like it was a history teacher talking about events. It tells about the Comanche while on the reservation but it doesn’t have any stories about people or things happening. It doesn’t explain the stories of people as much as I would like.

If you like historical books you would probably like it. If you are into dynamic and thrilling narratives then this book probably would not love this book. While it is thought-provoking it will not entertain like other works.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this with my kids when they were young. It was very useful in helping them understand what happened to the Natives in this country. It helps opening the conversation about more honest accounts of our European expansion across the country. My kids were in grade school and hearing that we are not always good Americans didn't break them but rather helped make them more compassionate adults. Today school conservatives would ban this book. Read it.

[Tom Brashear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the untold histories covered here. Dull Knife's honing etc.