The Bear River Massacre: A Shoshone History

by Darren Parry

Even though the Bear River Massacre was a defining event in the history of the Northwest Band of the Shoshone, in Parry’s retelling the massacre did not trap his people in death, but offered them rebirth. While never flinching from the realities of Latter-day Saint encroachment on Shoshone land and the racial ramifications of America’s spread westward, Parry offers messages of hope. As storyteller for his people, Parry brings the full weight of Shoshone wisdom to his tales—lessons of peace in the face of violence, of strength in the teeth of annihilation, of survival through change, and of the pliability necessary for cultural endurance. These are arresting stories told disarmingly well. What emerges from the margins of these stories is much more than a history of a massacre from the Shoshone perspective, it is a poignant meditation on the resilience of the soul of a people.--W. Paul Reeve, author of Religion of a Different Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Religion, Native American, Mormonism, Indigenous, American History

153 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 26, 2019

Reviews

[Alex Rushton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seriously lacking in detail and articulation over the Shoshone perspective of the Bear River Massacre. Based upon the title one would think there would be a profound and unique view of the massacre from the often-silenced victims. Also the editing and proofreading clearly were lacking, page 42 for example is full of inaccuracies.

Despite this, Mae Parry deservedly is recognised and appreciated for her remarkable work regarding the awareness of the massacre, which is great to read.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Difficult to rate. A very needed to be told tale of the history of the Northwestern Shoshone a bit before, leading up the massacre, and afterwards. Told in a storytelling style. Perhaps as such missing in specific details, the writing not as polished and there are some minor editing errors.

It is rare to find anything written on Native American history that is not heavy in tone, depressing and difficult to read. None of this was an issue as I read this book. In spite of the difficult events discussed, the tale is rather matter of fact -and hopeful looking for the good to the future. I highly recommend all to read. It is a small book on a people largely unknown, but one who reads it will never forget.

[Marty Reeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a typical history book. While Mr. Parry has a degree in history, his focus here is not in detailing a single historical event through the lens of a professional historian. Instead, in a lot of ways, this is more of a compilation of family records--and what a remarkably intriguing family history and perspective it provides! While I would not normally get excited about reading someone else’s family history, if your family is part of the largest massacre of Native Americans then I think we can safely say this is something of value to everyone.

Parry’s personal narrator voice first takes us through the culture of the Shoshone people, particularly the bands of the Northwestern Shoshone. Then, we meet with the Latter-day Saint settlers followed by the U.S. Army. With that, we get more than just a stark “them-versus-us” narrative. Instead, we are placed on the ground with the Shoshone people who both welcome white man while maintaining reservations. It is clear through the telling of the story that the autonomous nature of small family bands makes the relationship between settlers and natives complex.

When the massacre does occur a few chapters in, I was surprised that it took up only a small chapter, and in spite of it receiving title status, there were not a ton of details. Again, Mr. Parry has chosen a limited, non-historian viewpoint, but I was hoping to flesh out my knowledge of the event with at least some more specifics. I won’t complain too much, though. I mean, it is a massacre after all, and I’m not the type that likes to throw myself too deep into gruesome and repulsive scenes.

What happens after the massacre, which ends up being about the last half of the book, is more detailing of the personal family history. It is important to see the fallout of a band taken to the brink of annihilation, and what’s more it is sad but inspiring … though in unexpected ways. Most of the survivors end up receiving help from some of the Latter-day Saint settlers that had been the cause of many of their problems. Most even convert and join the Church. What follows is the gradual growth and/or decline of that particular Shoshone band, their complicated relationship with a church they’ve had meaningful personal conviction in and spiritual experiences with, yet whose leadership often (though not always) seemed to ignore them or deliberately exclude them.

Mr. Parry’s humble attitude in relating this story up until the present day does not incite bitterness or anger, but it does invite an essential perspective and the potential for future brotherhood in spite of past blunders. While this is not a professional historian work, it does suggest all the best learning that can come from understanding a tragic historical event.

[Libby Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

*November 2025*
A re-read of this after participating again in the tree planting ceremony at Wuda Ogwa has split my heart wide open. 💔

*November 2023*

I write this review on the day I voluntarily planted native plant species along the site of the Bear River Massacre near Preston, ID. Darren Parry and his son Brad Parry were present for a moving ceremony before the planting began. I met a woman who recommended this book and it has completed the experience of the day in a powerful way.

Darren Parry states plainly, “My hope is you will come to realize that true knowledge comes as we learn to view the world through different perspectives.”

I felt this poignantly. I lived in an old farmhouse feet away from the Bear River Massacre monument as a small child and have since lived in Franklin County for many years and an overwhelming amount of the information of this book was new to me.

Parry writes of the Shoshone culture and their (many times heartbreaking) efforts at adapting to change. This book is one where I truly felt history exposed as what individual people and their decisions do to effect generations. Many times these decisions are made against the majority of the organization they are affiliated with (military/ religious).

What rings true to me after this read is that there are spiritual forces that connect us to each other and to the land. People are far from perfect but we are capable of love and change.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book showing the Shoshone side of history - not just of the Bear River Massacre but also the events that lead the tribe to what it is today.

[GRANT · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a painfully beautiful book. We need more like this as it is a history of Native People of the Western United States written by one of them from their perspective. It memorializes important oral history passed down to the present and is well documented in a standard, academic manner. Darren Parry is remarkable in his commitment to preserve and share the history of his people and his family. While the Bear River Massacre is in the title and is a principal event in the history of the Northwestern Shoshone People, it is only a part of their story. This book is full of sorrow and hope. The author conveys the harsh truth in such a respectful way without bitterness. The faithful connections of his people with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) is presented along with the difficult challenges of membership in a church predominately populated by those of a different and often repressive culture. I highly recommend this book.

[Feisty Harriet]

A history of the Shoshone in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming, and their interactions with each other and the white settlers, specifically, the Mormons.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seemed fitting I finished this history on the day the massacre is remembered. I was moved, horrified, and inspired by the stories of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. I am grateful our community has access to this history and perspective.

[Olivia Ellenbecker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to read the Native American perspective of the massacre.

[Diane Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good, informative book but a very sad commentary on how horrible we whites have been to the American Natives. I would like to go to the site of the massacre and learn more.

[Tim Heise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the last decade, I have gladly spent a lot of time and energy reading and writing about Native American law and history. I have studied academic subtopics mostly to do with criminal jurisdiction in Indian country and genocides that have been committed against our indigenous brothers and sisters. It is usually dry writing and written by white people.

THIS BOOK is not that. It is personal and genuine. It focuses of love and service. It was as if Grandma Mae Timbimboo Parry herself invited me to her table, served me a home-cooked meal, and then told me the history of her people.

Well done, Darren Parry. Sir you have given my cynical heart some hope.

[Jason Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you had asked me at different points as I read how many stars I'd give this book, that answer would have fluctuated drastically depending on the sentence I was reading at the time. "Darren, you are a genius." "Darren, reading this is like watching the Black girl, when asked which baby doll is the ugliest between a White doll and a Black one, point to the Black baby doll time and time again." "Darren, you are so mentally colonized that you don't even know which way is up." "Darren, sorry for calling you an 'apologist for Brigham Young' on my podcast, Mormon Anthropologist (like and subscribe on Spotify), but you're not making things easier for me with this constant genuflecting before the feet of the great White God Inka Poppy who, according to you, was like a father figure even to the tribal elders who were older than him." "Darren, you are an apple." "Darren, you are like the innocent guy incarcerated for 40 years who, when finally exonerated, not only harbors no bitterness, but is actually grateful for his incarceration." "Darren, I realize that finding a way to get rid of bitterness was the only way for you to find sweetness in your life, but do you mind if I'm bitter on your behalf? "Darren, you know who gave LaMar Cutler his arson orders, don't you?" I vacillated between all of those conclusions, but ultimately settled on the first: "Darren, you are a genius." Had he written this in the way of an unapologetic badass Shoshone LandBack warrior (like Geneva Pacheo, whom he ingeniously only introduces to the few who will read the appendix), he would not have gotten anyone from his settler church to read it, and (similar to my own book, Forever Familias: Race, Gender, and Indigeneity in Peruvian Mormonism, which has 0 reviews on Goodreads) it wouldn't have had an impact. He wrote the body of the text in a way that is palatable even to an extremely colonialist, settler audience for whom anti-Indigeneity is the air they breath and the history texts and public education upon which they base their emotional attachment to the US settler state. Not only that, but he even wrote it on a 4th grade level so that it is accessible to all the kids currently learning about the Anglo Mormon version of Utah history: the Anglo Mormon pioneers arrived to an uninhabitable wasteland devoid of all human life, and they made it blossom as the rose (though Parry's narrative at least adds people to that desert, he still has such a low image of that people that he thinks that as late as 2019 they still are only just starting to blossom). Of course, in catering to a profoundly racist audience, the body of the book is unpalatable for people who cannot agree with stereotypes such as the following, which Parry repeats multiple times in its various permutations: "Sagwitch and his people lived like their ancestors did for hundreds of years" (10). That stereotype is so classic, it even has a name. It is "The Noble Savage" stereotype. It implies that, unlike Europeans, the peoples of Abya Yala (the correct name for the so-called "Americas") did not change, did not have technology, did not explore, did not author, did not discover, and did not innovate in any significant way. The noble savage of Parry's vision is stuck in a Groundhog Day utopian past where nothing changes and where "culture" is something that can be canned, preserved, and rescued for later use like Mormon apricots. The depiction of Native peoples as if they've somehow "lived as they always have" in a stasis of dramatic tension, just waiting for something to actually happen, also has a more devious purpose. It sets up the invasion of settlers as if it were inevitable, as if it were the first lifting of the curtain on the act of history's stage, or, as the Book of Mormon states, as if it were the scales finally falling off Shoshone eyes. "It had to happen sometime." "The Shoshone couldn't just stay in their Edenic yet fallen state forever." "All good things end." It also sets up the invasion of settlers as if it will be as everlasting toward positive infinity as the utopian time before settlers was static toward negative infinity. It sets up Native to settler contact as "Time 0." All before was pure Native. All after will be pure settler. Instead, maybe Parry should have let the true history of his people slip out between the lines. I know he didn't want to caste pearls before settler swine, and he didn't want to get in trouble with the geriatric church leaders (some of whom are probably culpable of the arson incident in 1960), but if he did want to risk not being able to publish this, he should have written, "Prior to meeting any peoples of European descent, Sagwitch's ancestors had created many technological and architectural revolutions, had blossomed and withered as the rose in myriad cycles, had shaped the landscapes, had established international trade routes with societies utterly foreign to them (Chaco Canyon, Teotihuacan, etc.), and had innovated countless changes to their complex civilizations, literary traditions, and ecologies. The contemporary Mormon and US occupations, though uniquely violent and genocidal, are simply part of a constant trajectory of human ingenuity and resilience in the face of change. Those occupations, like all others, will not last forever. The Shoshone people will be here long after USA, BIA, and LDS governance is gone." Luckily, Parry provided a reward for those of us who stomached the dizzying back and forth between appalling internalized racism one sentence and radical cries for justice the next that made up the body of the book. The reward was the appendix! Who ever thought of being excited about an appendix? The appendix took this book from 1 star to 4 stars. If I were just judging this book by its appendix, I'd give it 5 stars: best appendix ever! In fact, I wish Frank Timbimboo, whose statement takes up its bulk, had just written the entire book in the first place. Parry included an appendix that is just as long as the body of the book. That appendix contains the primary sources, not really about the Bear River Massacre, but about a much more recent atrocity, which implicates prophets, seers, and revelators who, I'm assuming, are STILL ALIVE and, therefor, could still be tried and convicted for, at the very least, conspiracy to commit arson. What those affidavits and letters describe is how the church essentially started the encomienda system in Utah. The encomienda was a form of slavery where the settler (encomendado) owned the land and the labor of the Indigenous people on it. Lest you accuse me of presentism in claiming that the encomienda system was racist, the encomienda system was reformed even as far back as 1574 because it was too abusive even for the Spanish crown. It was downright abolished in 1791 because of its atrocities against humanity. Now, going back to the modern-day Shoshone who lived under the encomienda system in the 20th century, the Indigenous people could "own" homes, so to speak, on the encomienda, but ultimately, if the encomendado (the church) wanted to do something with the land upon which those homes lay, he could simply kick the Indigenous people out. The church did this in the least humane way possible among the Shoshone. The church burned the Shoshone homes down with their prized possessions, histories, and records still inside! All of those Shoshone were members of the church! Did this happen in 1860? No, it happened in 19-friggin-60! This represents a Russian doll of land theft. Anglo Mormons invade Shoshone lands in 1847. Anglo Mormons make themselves out to be victims of theft (as depicted in the Daughter's of Mormon Pioneers memorial of the "victory" at Bear River). The US army kills as many Shoshone women and children as they can at Bear River in 1863. In 1873, the Shoshone survivors convert to the same church that aided the genocide and stole their land. The church gives the Shoshone a tiny portion of land upon which they can unsustainably monocrop. The Shoshone chief (survivor of the massacre) Sagwitch actually has a deed to that land from the federal government under the homestead act, but the church doesn't let him know this. His descendants find out later. So the church, out of the kindness of its heart, gives Sagwitch land that it knows full well he already owns, not even in an ancestral sense the way all Native peoples have rights to ALL the land in the so-called US, but in a "here's the actual land deed" sense that even the genocidal US federal government honors. Sagwitch has lowered his expectations to the point where he is genuinely grateful that the thief of his entire homeland has deigned to give to him a "a land of his own" on which to farm and be left alone. By the way, notice how almost nobody in the book, especially the author, mentions the word "back" in relation to land. Sagwitch does not want HIS land BACK even though he personally remembers a time when the entire expanse of the Great Basin was his relative to which he had access unfettered by foreign invaders. Sagwitch is made to think that any land he gets represents a church or government handout and that he should actually feel guilty for getting it without "working" for it! I'm not exaggerating about the church's manipulation of Shoshone spirituality to make them feel guilty. When the federal government offered some Shoshone allotments on another reservation, their Anglo bishop (and why their bishop still had to be an Anglo proves that Washakie was little more than an encomienda or an hacienda as if taken directly out of Todas Las Sangres) told them that the allotments were government handouts and therefore, were from Satan Himself. This caused many to "repent" and give the allotments "back" to the settler state! Props to Paheydickzee and Mae Manake who realized that ALL THE LAND FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA was their land in the first place and so there was no way they could give it "back" to the US government in order to repent. The church of course never admits that it is really giving land BACK to the Shoshone. That word "back" is never associated with land except in the words of baddass Indigenous grandmother Sister Geneva Pacheo who is my new hero. The way the church deals with the Shoshone is the same way that the US deals with Latin America. Sure, the US gives "aid" to Latin America (or, it used to before it was DOGE'd), but it considers that aid to be charity when in reality it is reparations for the way the US has destroyed democratically elected government after democratically elected government in Latin America. But, anyway, back to the Russian doll of land theft. Of that tiny portion of their once vast nomadic homeland that Sagwitch owns even under settler law (but he doesn't know that he owns), the church assigns him an even tinier, 13 acre portion, for which, again, Sagwitch is meant to feel grateful (and even a little guilty). Then, his people are burned out of even that! I mean LITERALLY burned out. Like, with arson ordered by the highest ranks of the LDS church. In 1973, when AIM is at its height, they are still landless. They have so much desire for even a table scrap of land, that an actual seat at the table that divvies the scraps is almost too much to ask (though Parry does at least ask for that). Getting the entire table kicked off of what is ACTUALLY ALL THEIR LAND IN THE FIRST PLACE AND HAS BEEN SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL becomes unthinkable. In the book's body, Parry seems to want to protect readers from asking themselves the question: "Wait a minute, not only should the Shoshone get their 13 acres on Washakie according to the church's encomienda system's own laws, and not only should they get the larger homestead parcel in Box Elder according to the US settler occupations own laws, but shouldn't they get the entire Great Basin? Thankfully, the appendix does allow us to ask that question. And, when the appendix is paired with the body (which most readers won't take the time to do, especially the Deseret Book readers who are loyal to those still living who perpetrated the final solution of arson), it allows us to ask the further question. Wouldn't getting land mean getting it BACK?!

[Peter Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really fascinating read, especially for people who live in or around Cache Valley. It's really well-written (although it does have a few unfortunate editorial mistakes) and doesn't pull any punches without being overwhelmingly devastating.

[William Fuller · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Bear River Massacre: A Shoshone History is obviously written from the author's heart, and giving the slim volume such a low rating pains me; however, the title promises far more than the narrative delivers. There is pitifully little about the Bear River Massacre; in fact, as one reads more and more about the author's grandmother, that reader begins to wonder just when facts of the massacre will ever begin to appear in the book. The subtitle, A Shoshone History, likewise suggests far more information than is actually contained in the book. There is certainly a bit of informative history here, but it is limited to that which is known to the author's ancestral family. It is by no means a comprehensive history of the Shoshone people. The book is almost more of a memoir than it is a history.

While the text, mercifully, is generally free of grammatical faux pas, the author does not appear to be a professional writer, and the text is, at times, rather less than crystal clear. For example, one early passage on Page 30 reads, “He [Brigham Young] also had a book of scripture containing the dealings of Jesus Christ with aboriginal peoples of the American continent, written for these Lamanites (Indians) in our day and time.” I'm still trying to understand whether “in our day and time” is referring to the writing of the scriptural book and the migration of Mormons to Utah in the mid-1800s or to the author's day and time in the 21st century. Objective accuracy would have also been improved had the author written that the book contained the purported dealings of Jesus Christ, since I doubt that any Christian sect beyond the LDS church would claim that such an event occurred on the American continent. It is difficult to give credence to any history that appears to accept any religious dogma as factual in nature.

The book is brief, 101 pages of text followed by 63 pages of appendices. One of these, an identification of edible plants used by the Shoshone, consists of photocopied handwriting and a few of those pages are too faint to be legible.

Not to leave this review as a completely critical assessment of the book, the descriptions of Chief Sagwitch I found to be of great interest, and I am pleased to have vicariously made his acquaintance. The book has its place in the recording of Shoshone history, but it is too limited in its coverage to be considered anything like a comprehensive history of the Shoshone people. If one is looking for a bit of detail, particularly about Sagwitch, The Bear River Massacre is certainly worthy of perusal; for a more complete history of the Shoshone, however, one must seek elsewhere.

[Daniel Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want you to read this book.

Darren Parry is Shoshone. The Bear River Massacre: A Shoshone History is as much a memoir of his grandmother, a work of family history as it is a history of his people. Though it does not read like something written by a trained historian (to my knowledge, Parry isn't a trained historian, but an elder of his people), it is in some ways more relevant than a more refined and researched narrative. With him as its messenger, it conveys a tale of a people nearly lost in the rush to win the west, struggling to find or build a home near their ancestral lands, to make their way in a world that has changed dramatically.

Parry opens his story with a paean to his grandmother, who carried and passed so much of the Shoshone history from the past to the present. I know Darren only a little, but if even half of what I know is true he does her credit for the influence she has had on his life. In some measure, he tries to communicate that impact and share the importance she had on him and how that impact means so much for why he became who he is and works tirelessly for his people.

From there, the narrative shifts back to a point when the Shoshone modern history begins, the arrival of white settlers to the area, the Mormon pioneers, conflicts with the settles, and then the tragic events leading to the Bear River Massacre, one of the largest massacres of Indians in North America. Parry continues from there with a brief history of the remaining tribe members into the present, including their interactions with the Mormon prophets and conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Shoshone history is tragic, but also triumphant. While there were moments when Parry expressed sadness at the failures that led to conflict with settlers, as well as the unfairness with which the people had been treated--repeatedly through the years--one can feel of his undiminished spirit and hope to overcome and find a place for his people in the land they call, and which once was, their home. I hope them all the best of luck as they seek it, and I hope they are able to create that reservation which will provide them the autonomy other tribes have obtained.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darren Parry, a local author, is a member of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. His book is written from a generational perspective, with the Bear River Massacre of January 29, 1863 as the start-point of his historical narrative.

Having visited the site near Franklin, ID years before the Tribe’s purchase of their sacred land, I re-live that haunting experience every time the subject of the Massacre is featured in a news article or event announcement. I was expecting only a story re-enacting that day. This book is so much more than that. For me, it was a guidebook to local history. So many places that I’ve been, or literally ~am~, every singe day. We are surrounded by the impact of this history and the decision that the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation chose to assimilate (the author’s word) into the LDS faith instead of life on a Reservation. The Appendices offer a fascinating, albeit heartbreaking, 1973 testimony to events that happened in 1960. Worth reading every page.

Trappers Loop, straddling Morgan and Weber Counties, is also a part of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation’s story … and their impact on what eventually became the area as it is today. It was not referenced in the book, however.

[Joni Kartchner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I understand that every reader brings their own expectations to a work like this, and it’s always valuable to hear different viewpoints from those who take the time to write a review. It’s clear that some have a deep interest in the subject, and if they ever choose to share their own insights through writing, I would imagine it would add to the important conversation about this part of history, and hopefully with less criticism than shared by some reviews. I have read this book several times and believe it still contributes to a broader understanding of this significant event, and from very reliable sources. It’s hard to understand the mentality of anyone who would have found it acceptable to participate in the killing of so many innocent people, and our history books fail to mention this tragic event. While deeply saddened by the great loss of life, I am grateful to the author for sharing his tribe’s account of that fateful day and what proceeded afterwards. The biggest takeaway I received from reading it was on learning to forgive, and to appreciate where we come from. We could all learn to be more humane. Great book!

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short history of the Shoshone. It briefly covers the events of the Bear River Massacre, where hundreds of men, women and children were brutally gunned down in southern Idaho by the federal army. The event was unprovoked, from the perspective of the tribe.

The subsequent history of the tribe was fascinating. After a few years, they joined the Church (whose members had a roll in instigating the massacre), and then went from town to town trying to establish themselves on new land. Eventually, they homesteaded, farmed, and built houses on a Church owned ranch.

In the 1960s the Church sought to sell the ranch. In the process they burned down many of the houses and property of the Shoshone without notification. It appears there was some compensation, but only after a decade of trying to get the church to negotiate.

The book was too short to parse out the details to help the reader arrive at a conclusion. I believe this is also partly due to the authors over generous heart and desire to not be defined by their generations of persecution.

[Laurisa Reyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brief but revealing description of the events that led up to and followed the Bear River Massacre of the Northwestern Shoshone tribe. While the book touches lightly on the massacre itself, it focuses more heavily on the conversion of the Shoshone to the Mormon faith and the Church's subsequent betrayal of the tribe in burning their homes and selling their land.

The way the book is written, I was less angered by the murder of 400 Indians than I was by the betrayal, and baffled by the lack of anger on the part of the descendants of the tribes people who endured both.

This is an important contribution to Native American history because it is told from the perspective of the Indians themselves rather than being a white-washed history.

I would have given it 4 stars, but the book has many typos and feels a little haphazard in places.

[David Doty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have long been interested in Native American history and affairs, and this is one of the most powerful and important books I have read. Relating the little known and publicized Bear River Massacre, which occurred in January 1863 when federal troops marched on a Shoshone encampment in what is now northern Utah, the book illuminates the tragic facts of the massacre as well as many unfortunate things that befell the tribe thereafter over the next 100 years.

I am embarassed to say that I knew nothing about these events until I read this book, but now I know and I hope anyone with a desire to know and understand the history of Utah and the West will pick it up. You can't read about an unprovoked killing of over 400 innocent men, women, and children, and not be profoundly affected.

It is a story that should be told far and wide.

[Spencer Ellsworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is very much written by a storyteller and Shoshone person, not as an academic history. I used large chunks of it in my developmental English classes at a tribal college because Parry writes simple and clean prose that can be read by even a struggling reader, but he writes with moving power about the massacre, the difficult relationship the Western Shoshone have had with the LDS church, and especially about his grandmother and her lifelong effort to make sure the story of the massacre was told accurately.

Especially with the attention American Primeval has given the massacre, this is vital for understanding how the massacre looks from the eyes of the people upon whom the crime was perpetrated.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sure that I never would have read this if I hadn't attended a talk given by the author. I had never heard of the Bear River Massacre, but that makes sense for two reasons. The first is that I lived on the east coast for all of my years in school and the second is that, as the author stated, the victor writes the history. I found this to be so tragic and the ensuing story of the Northwestern Shoshone's attempts to find a home almost unbelievable. The fact that families had their homes and belongings burned in 1960 (!) just boggles my mind. I would hope that this book is a part of the Utah school system curriculum.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was told by a friend that the only place we should definitely visit near where she lives up in southeastern Idaho is the site of the Bear River Massacre. I knew nothing about it, and was glad to see this book was available at my local library. I'm so sad and a little shocked by what happened to these Shoshone people.

I'm grateful to have my eyes opened by this book. I'm glad I read it so I have a better idea of what must have happened to these people. I feel more compassionate toward their challenges. I'm disappointed by how they were treated by some of the white people and so-called religious people around them. It's no wonder that many Native Americans want recompense and justice.

[Michael Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darren Parry, professor of Native American history at University of Utah, and descendant of Chief Sagwitch, related to the victims of the Bear Creek Massacre, gives the Native American side of the massacre. The book is meticulously researched, and draws from the exacting oral history of the tribe. Darren gave me a personal tour of the massacre site. In chilling detail, it lays out how the Army murdered a peaceful village, garnering a promotion for General Patrick E. Conner. You will be crying and having your mouth hang open.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Native American history is not always easy to read. It is uncomfortable and disturbing on many levels. I found the author's perspective impressive especially as having had ancestors involved in this horrible massacre. There is not much understanding you can give to senseless violence, but I appreciate his efforts to share the story and give his ancestors a voice. The storytelling of the Native American culture is more appreciated after reading this book. I hope I can catch one of his lectures sometime.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This massacre occurred during or right after the Civil War as Mormons were settling in Utah and were under alot of scrutiny from the U.S. Government. The author is a 6th generation Mormon and belongs to the NW Utah Shoshone Indian Tribe. Over 400 men, women, and children belonging to the Shoshone tribe were wiped out during the massacre. Some escaped and were later baptized into the LDS religion.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many emotions. I knew the grizzly details of the massacre at Bear River. I didn't know the atrocities that happened since then. I am ashamed, angry, and appalled. Man is supposed to be the highest form of life. Man is in humane.. I cannot change history but with education I hope to be a participate in improving future generations. Sorry will never be enough.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

I grew up in the area where the Bear River Massacre occurred and was curious to learn more about it. It is definitely a sad story, and, from the Shoshone perspective, the massacre was essentially unprovoked. I was also surprised to hear about the subsequent decades of bad treatment from the "Utah settlers", which is to say, the Mormons.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darren Parry is an amazing human, and with all of the different hats that he wears, I am impressed that he put together this story. It is a history that is all but forgotten in books, and that is tragic. This book is very autoethnographic, and though I do not necessarily see eye-to-eye on every point in the book (particularly toward the end), I admire his courage to forgive.

[tiffany greene · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Everyone that you meet in this life has a story worthy of being told. What is your story? Your story is equally important.” Darren Parry
I’ve met the author on several occasions through my work and have always been impressed with his sincerity and genuineness. This book shares a very important part of Utah history, one that every Utahn should read.