The Long Death

by Andrist

This compelling narrative explains how Native Americans found themselves time and again betrayed by the ever-expanding white nation of the East, fighting for lands on the edge of the shrinking frontier. Long considered a classic, this edition features an introduction by Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee . "A vivid, swiftly paced account of the dispossession of the Plains Indians during the half century after 1840— The New York Times Book Review ,

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Native American History, American History, Native American, Indigenous, Native Americans

410 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

Reviews

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only give this book 5 stars because I can't give it 10. Out of all the history books I have read, it is in the top 3, up there with A Time for Trumpets and The Guns of August.

Author Ralph Andrist was able to capture the sweeping epic of the closing of the American frontier and the complete subjugation of the American Indian in just a few chapters, which is retrospect is fitting, since it only took about 40 years. His book begins with the Sioux uprising in Minnesota in 1862, then goes on to describe the Cheyenne-Arapaho War of 1865, the 1866 Red Cloud's War for the Bozeman Trail (including the Fetterman Massacre and the Wagon Box Fight), and Hancock's War on the southern plains in 1868-69. Then he takes a chapter to describe the slaughter of the great buffalo herds, and the traumatic effect it had on the lives and fortunes of the Plains Indians and American history.

Next, the book jumps out to the Far West for a recounting of the Modoc War on the California-Oregon border in 1872-73, then comes to a climax with a very gripping account of the blunders that led to the defeat of Custer and the 7th Cavalry on the banks of the Little Bighorn in 1876. The fitting denouement of the book, as it was for the Indians, is the tale of the Ghost Dance religion that swept through the remaining Indian populations on the reservations in 1890, culminating in the massacre at Wounded Knee right about the time of the official announcement of the "closing of the Frontier" by the US government. Woven through the narrative are details of the smaller wars of the period, like the Bannock wars and the pursuit and defeat of the Nez Perce.

Andrist's prose is finely honed, taut and gripping. The book's organization gives the reader the impression that time is passing too rapidly, like it must have felt for the Indian, with events destroying his way of life coming one on the heels of another. This book is finished all to quickly.

Its crowning glory is the full set of beautifully hand-drawn maps by Rafael Palacios, lavishly distributed throughout the whole work and spanning scales from multi-state strategic views down to tactical maps that provide sharp detail of small actions. No military history book can accurately portray events without well-considered and well-rendered maps, and this collection of maps is the standard to which all others should be held.

[Nate Hendrix · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was mentioned in Michael Blake's book Indian Yell. Blake was the author of Dances With Wolves. Indian Yell was excellent and so was this book. Excellent, but tragic. Just about any book one reads about Native Americans is going to show examples of the worst behavior of the American government and the American public. This book shed more light on a subject that I knew little about and was fun to read. Not fun, like I laughed, but fun like I looked forward to reading it and was slightly disappointed to be finished. It is sad to think that the mistreatment of the American Indian did not end at Wounded Knee, the end of this book, but continues to this day.

[Chris Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somewhat depressing at the gross injustice we as invaders of America inflicted on the native Americans. This book is written from the indian’s perspective and goes into great detail about the US policy toward the native american’s. The greed and lust for land, gold and buffalo hides for profit is beyond belief and the senseless pain and suffering of the native inhabitants of the West is shameful. This historical account tells the plight of the plains Indians from about 1830 to 1890 which is a sad story but much worth learning. We must know history so we don’t repeat it.

[Marty Reeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andrist is one of those rare non-fiction authors who excels at his field, not because of his knowledge (which is, of course, still essential), but because of his ability to see a story and present it as a story, while still maintaining a factual account. This tragic, yet illuminating account of the death of the plains Indians gives a proper perspective to an important epilogue of a truly American people.

[Iain]

I can see where this must have been revolutionary ... in 1964. But 55 years later there are a host of texts on the Plains Indians and their struggles that benefit from half a century of scholarship.

So respect to this title for being ground breaking, but there's little reason to recommend it today.

[Sheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only real complaint is that I would have liked him to write a book on each incident and the cultural conflicts leading to them. But even while trying to cover a broad spectrum of events and peoples, he often does a great job of giving you a feeling for some of the individuals involved. A balanced presentation, sprinkled with apt quotes and wry observations like this one; "The United States Army has, without favoritism, included in its officer corps men ranging from geniuses down to incompetent fools lacking the slightest rudiments of judgment. Young Lieutenant Grattan who was sent out from the fort to obtain satisfaction for the dead and digested cow was one of the latter."

Somewhat dated, which I suspect explains the few errors (none of them significant) I noticed, but generally accurate, and a highly readable introduction to the subject.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a hard read - mostly because of the content. Lots of detail and the writing was good. It did take me a long time to get through.

[Annette Murray-Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye-opening

[Alana Cash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deserves 10 stars. The book is very well writen and maintained my interest. It's not a fast read because it's dense with information, but so interesting and enlightening that I almost couldn't put it down. It is an immensely well-researched account of the destruction of the culture of the plains tribes from Canada to Texas. The author got his information from newspaper articles, personal and government letters, army and agency reports, as well as other government records. The only flaw in the writing is that the author was well-aware that Sioux means "enemy" in Ojibwe and that the "Sioux" tribes were called Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota, but he explained he used Sioux because it would be more recognizable to his readers. He explains this about 3/4 into the book and should have come at the beginng.

The whole book is a tragedy of the army and white settlers, their greed and "manifest destiny," pushing the tribes into reservations that became smaller and smaller as settlers [i.e. voters] demanded more land. The US government never let up on betraying the treaties.

The book gives a far clearer description of "Custer's last stand" than the romanticized version in the media. First of all, Custer disobeyed his orders which were to scout the region for hostiles and report back to his commanding officer. But Custer was looking for a fight to glorify himself. Second, Custer did not "stand." He saw the biggest Indian village ever assembled and decided to gain his glory by attacking it with 125 men. Custer was killed quickly and the rest of his men died as well. Having read about the San Creek Massacre and other cruelties and betrayals - the Custer episode was a bit of justice.

And, then there is the story of the elimination of 10,000,000 buffalo. Before reading this book, I had thought the army had destroyed the buffalo. It wasn't.

[Lori Schafer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed and thorough account of the final years of tribal life of the Plains Indians. In addition to describing the better-known events in American Indian history, such as the fall of Custer and the Massacre at Wounded Knee, it also features in-depth exploration of topics such as the various factors that contributed in the demise of the buffalo and the Indian response to them, and a wonderful narrative of the "revolt" of Captain Jack. As with all such histories of the tragedies that befell or were forced upon our native peoples, it's guaranteed to make you sad.

It should be noted that the style of writing is a bit drier and more "historical" in aspect than much of the nonfiction you read nowadays, which tends to be written in a more fictionalized style. Nonetheless, it is a smooth and easy read, and holds it own among the many other fine books I've read on the subject of American Indian history.

http://lorilschafer.blogspot.com

[Sue Hallsted · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very difficult book to read. I started it a couple of years ago when I first purchased the book, but had to set it down as the topic was just so disturbing. Then I picked it up again this past April, it took me till today to finish....again, it was a very slow read as it was so disturbing. It is an actual history of what white men did to the plains Indians as they moved westward. How our government so terribly let them down and destroyed them.

This book is definitely not for the faint of heart, but if you can get through it, your eyes will be opened even more so than what you were taught in school.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing account of the horrors rained upon the Native Americans by the US government during the Western expansion. It's painful and shocking, disturbing and sad, but VERY enlightening. I higly recommend this to anyone who would like a true view of our country's history.

[Jinny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore this book, and can promise the end is one of McMurty's best.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really sad

[Megan McFadden · Rating 3 out of 5]

really informative, insightful, and interesting, but boring at the same time. I could hardly make it through.

[Gerry McCaffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the read; it put everything else I had read into context.