Nebraska Books

This is a pretty good book on the Standing Bear controversy of 1879. By the end of the book, you will feel that you learned a lot about the events and the people involved. However, the footnotes are a joke as the references are cited without any corresponding page numbers. One large error occurred in the final chapter when Mr. Dando-Collins quickly tells when each of the main characters of the book, and some secondary ones, died. He forgot to include Thomas Henry Tibbles, one of the two main characters. I can't believe that no one picked this up. Doesn't anyone edit books anymore? Also, it is clear during the reading of this book that religion, or more specifically Christianity, played a huge role in the events. I feel this deserved some mention and introspection. On the one hand the Christian's believed God wanted them to have the land (Manifest Destiny) while on the other some, after the fact, wanted to defend the Indians. But why, was it to push their Christian views and make the Indians Christians and would they have helped Standing Bear if he always maintained his traditional beliefs? Most authors don't have the nerve to address this and those who believe in Christianity are probably incapable of seeing the wrong in it.

I prefer novels, but my book group 'makes' me read historical works every so often. And, I'm glad, because otherwise I would not know the incredible story of Standing Bear.

Actually, this is the story of the many people who sought justice for the Native Americans. From an army general, to a newspaper editor, to clergy, to attorneys - many people fought for the rights of the Standing Bear.

As a Presbyterian minister, living in Nebraska, this book makes me proud of the ancestors that have gone before me.

A friend recommended this book, and I am glad that I read it. This is a heart-felt tale of human determination to right a terrible injustice. The story of how American Indians came to be recognized by the courts as humans, and hence worthy of asserting their rights, is particularly timely in this era of indefinite detentions of "enemy combatants."

It took me about 30 pages to get into this book, but I was hooked from then on. Despite extensive reading about Native American history, I had never known the process or participants involved in granting Native people their rights as citizens. This book is factual, thought-provoking, and alternately sad and uplifting, but most of all it is interesting. The chapter about the trial, which ends with Standing Bear's address to Judge Dundy and the courtroom audience, made me cry. If Native Americans were considered savages, then what were we. The simple eloquence of this "PERSON" , his wisdom and the true humanity he posessed can be found in his words documented in this book. An excellent read and a "Keeper".

You have to be a person to go to court. No matter what their actions horses, dogs and the like don't go to court. Neither did slaves, and until Standing Bear neither did an American Indian.

This book is a courtroom drama, backed up by a tremendous amount of background information on indian life in the late 1800's along the American western frontier. It's not a pretty tale, most of what happened to the indians was not pretty, but it's the truth as best we know it.

and corruption ruled.
Helena Huntington Smith's rendition of the Johnson County War is a thorough investigation into the homesteader versus the cattle baron in late nineteenth century Wyoming.
The author prods, pokes and jabs into every facet of what occurred before, during and after the Wyoming Stock Growers Association's invasion upon the alleged rustlers.

With round-ups controlled by the WSGA in a time of overstocking and open range, coupled with the "Maverick Law" in favor of the Association's members, it was open warfare for cattle.
Although the invaders lost in the field, they won courtside due to the fact that an impartial jury could not be found; they had the backing of President Harrison, Wyoming's acting governor Barber; Senators Carey and Warren, the legislature and the courts; plus Johnson County itself couldn't pay for prosecuting fees.

A knock down dismantling of a tightfisted and gluttonous association.

On July 20, 1899, a robust hog farmer-prostitute and her innkeeper friend were strung up on a stunted pine overlooking Spring Creek Gulch. A detective working for the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association led the gang of lynchers.

Johnson County's hard-up cowboys turned homesteaders, whom the cattlemen labeled cow "rustlers," reacted with anger and fear and began arming themselves for the pending invasion of gunslingers hired by the cattle barons.

This true crime story --- if the West could have true crime before it actually had much law --- is recounted in wonderful detail by Helena Huntington Smith.


Smith tells this story with an engaging true to life flavor. To accomplish this she uses letters written by the cattlemen themselves, an abundance of not-quite-objective but many sided accounts by writers from the East and by Wyoming's country editors at the time. All this is supplemented with information from a few books and "confessions" produced by participants.

For anyone who has been fascinated by Westerns in film and on TV, this book should become a must read. It is as close as anyone is likely to come to "the true story" behind the myth that underlies the West.

The Johnson County War was well known in its day. It inspired many works of film and fiction. In April 1892 the big cattlemen with their hired gun men from Texas invaded Johnson County to drive off or kill the small ranchers and homesteaders. The sheriff, deputies, and some county commissioners were on their death list. This book tells about the preceding events and the aftermath. Those who planned this and murdered two men on the death list were able to escape justice after being rescued by the US Army; they had the support of politicians like President Harrison, US Senators, the Governor of Wyoming, plus the usual flunkies.

The cattle rush was on by 1879. Corporations stocked the plains for a later bonanza of beef. But changing conditions led to overstocking (too many cattle for the land), and the bankruptcy of many large businesses. The big cattlemen blamed the problem on small ranchers and homesteaders, not their mismanagement. The word "rustler" defines a person who is pushing, energetic, smart, and successful; they can take care of themselves. It was also used to refer to a cattle thief. It usually referred to any small rancher who tried to do business for themselves. Any cowboy who tried this would be blacklisted from a job. The big cattlemen, whose headquarters were the Cheyenne Club, formed a cartel where they would claim all cattle that were in Wyoming. But the citizens of Johnson County would not allow their property to expropriated. The first victims were Ella Watson and James Averell, lynched by a big cattleman who wanted their property (Chapter 18). One of the witnesses to this died, and the others disappeared, so there was no prosecution!

The classic Western film had a similar story. The people in the valley were oppressed by a crooked mayor and sheriff who were in cahoots with the big rancher. But when the people united they were able to win over this gang of crooks. In real life it wasn't this way. [If you think this is just fiction you may not know what is happening in your city, county, or state.]

After the usual conspiracy to affect reality, big ranchers and their hired gun men invaded Johnson County in April 1892. They killed two cowboys who were on their death list. The alarm went out and the citizens of Johnson County gathered together like the Minutemen of 1775. They surrounded and besieged this gang until the US Army cam to arrest this gang. The prisoners were taken away, then released on orders of politicians like the Governor. Witnesses were lured away, and the charges were dropped.

The author points out that other states (like Montana) did not have these feuds over stock. Unbranded cattle became county property and were sold for tax money. You can read this book to learn about American history that won't be found in official school history books. The author should have dedicated this book to George Dunning the gun man from Idaho (Chapter 36). This book also tells about the journalism practices of that era (and today?). The author did not note the future fates of those big cattlemen. Could they have been going insane?

The dust jacket has an illustration by Frederic Remington "The Price of a Maverick". This fantasy painting lacks any date and place to authenticate its subject matter. How many other paintings are like that?

This is a very fine, well-written book, and it has become pretty much a standard text in the history of the West. Though the setting is by and large eastern Wyoming of the late nineteenth century, and the subject matter is cattle ranching, this book will be much more satisfying to liberal-minded historians and populists than typical cattle ranchers. Anyone who appreciates or sympathizes with the underdogs in SHANE but would like a more historically accurate picture of the struggles for land and cattle in the West might want to give this a look. It is wholly satisfying from expository, sociopolitical, and historical standpoints.

I had the privilege of living in Wyoming for seven years. If you want to spark a LIVELY discussion,bring up the Johnson County War(which is the subject of this fine book) anywhere in Johnson or Sheridan counties. Decendents of both factions still live there & continue to have strong opinions on this event. Cutting to the chase,this was nothing other than an armed invasion of a U.S. territory by a mercenary army of gunmen hired by The Wyoming Stockgrowers Association with the express purpose of killing aproximately 125 people on a (very real) hit list & seizing control of established local government. The enormity of the conspiracy far exceeded any of the various western range wars of the period-even though the total body count was fairly minimal. Fortunately for the residents of Johnson county,these Texas thugs were about as adept at the blitz invasion business as were the ATF incompetents when attempting to enter the Branch Dravidian compound in Waco. It would be gratifying to say that these hired murderers were repulsed,arrested & punished. Unfortunately,that didn't happen. Cavalry from nearby Fort Kinney saved their bacon by rescuing the invaders from the furious residents & whisking them away to Cheyenne where the the entire matter finally fizzled out with no charges or trial. It did,however,effectively blunt the unchallenged power of the monopoly WSGA. Internecene sniping continued until 1902 with the hanging of their hireling Tom Horn. As Ms. Smith amply points out,however,Wyoming justice has rarely been a polished or unambiguous affair. I would say that this is the classic & most even handed account of a most extraordinary event even by Wyoming standards.

Nicole Etcheson does a masterful job of weaving the chaotic detail of the early Kansas chaos into a cogent history. She convincingly demonstrates that the stories we heard in high school of the motivations underlying the conflict were over generalized at best, and usually misleading. Her narrative is lively and her insights are enlightening. This book should be read by anyone interested in the events leading to the Civil War.

This an excellent account of a complicated political dispute.
the author gives a clear and logical history of bleeding Kansas.
After reading this book, I finally felt like I understood the
issues involved.The author includes lots of information
about how the people of the antebellum period felt to help
the reader understand the conflict. I read alot of popular
history and this is the best I've read in quite awhile.Hats
off to Etcheson for this excellent work. I look foward to
her next work.

It seems to me that the author overrelies on newspaper accounts in her research, which are often notoriously unreliable, especially if far removed from the events that are being described. In addition, newspaper accounts during the Border War were characterized by extreme bias, and Etchison quotes them often without commenting on inaccuracies and distortions, which only reinforces their error. She is sometimes coy in the narrative mode, so much so that even in the description of John Brown ruthlessly hacking to death and shooting the Doyles at Pottatawatomie Creek, she fails to mention who is killing and mutilating, only referring to an "angular old man" in charge and does this for fully a page of text, then only referring to the maniac Brown indirectly, as "old man Brown." What "old man Brown"? What is more incredible, no, flabbergasting, is that she doesn't mention that Brown is killing the three Doyles because they carry warrants for John Brown's arrest for intimidating a Kansas Territorial supreme court judge, a dismal failure in research it seems to me. She also uses the old hackneyed propaganda terms, "bushwhackers," instead of the more accurate, value-neutral term "guerrillas" in describing Missouri insurgents, and also, laughably, employs Horace Greeley's coined, centuries-old, favorite propaganda term, "Border Ruffians" and "ruffians" to describe the Missouri elites' actions in Kansas, an unforgivable, antiquated lapse by someone affecting objectivity. Etcheson's simplistic, description of the Border War is insulting to those who don't share her "liberal" interpretation of events. After 150 years of winners' histories, it's time for a lot more objectivity by our so-called "professional" historians. They should tell it like it is, not how they wish it to "appear" to the uninitiated.

Professor Etcheson's book is a thorough, objective view of "Bleeding Kansas," the years leading up to the Civil War (1854 to 1861.) She makes the politics of the time as interesting as the armed combat between the (Kansas/New England) Abolitionist and the (Missouri/Southern) Border Ruffian. Etcheson also looks at all points of view with a frank and honest eye, not lionizing the anti-slavery faction or villainizing the pro-slavery faction.

It is by far the most up-to-date and historically accurate book on this important era. A must-read for the Civil War buff and for those in Kansas and Missouri to understand the integral part the region played in setting the stage for the War Between the States.

Boxing stories is a good sampler of R.E.H.'s sport fiction. Ten of the stories are from his humorous Sailor Steve Costigan series. The Spirit of Tom Molyneaux is an interesting combination of ghost and boxing story featuring an african american boxer, (fair warning, it contains non p.c.elements).Iron Men ,which Howard considered one of his best stories, is included in its original form, restored from the heavily edited version first published in Fight Stories Magazine in 1930. While Howard thought it one of his best,I think Fists of the Desert and They Always Come Back are actually better. They are gritty and realistic, telling of the shabby, brutal lives of low level boxers of that era.If you enjoy R.E.H.,sports stories,or just the style of 20's and 30's pulp fiction I think you will like Boxing Stories (the Works of Robert E. Howard).

you're missing out! Robert E. Howard was a proflic author of exciting stories, including westerns, swords and sorcery, adventure, and horror. Boxing Stories collects a sample of REH's sports stories, filled with bruising battlers who fight for a variety--but usually noble--reasons. Of note, the collection contains a story that REH regarded as one of his finest 'The Iron Men,' here presented as Howard originally intended.

I got this book as an ongoing effort to collect as much of the works of Robert E. Howard as I can. But when I opened it and started reading, I was hooked! These stories are excellent. Short and quick to read, they are full of action, drama, humor, and really place the reader in the world they are set in. If you are a fan of the era, like boxing, or just wasnt a rousing read, I highly reccomend this book.

Robert E Howard is a legend along with H P Lovecraft for writing hundreds of short stories for cheep pulps and getting hardly any money or recognition for their talent. While Robert E Howard is best known for his Conan stories, fans who look beond are rewarded. Such is the case with this collection of Boxing Stories. The stories are fantastic and completely over the top, and there is a vocabulary Robert E Howard uses skillfuly that will have you cracking up. The fight scenes play out like violent and gory Looney Tunes, and the diologue makes the charecters jump out of the page. Once you read a few of these short storys you'll begin to realise that this is a type of writing to be savored. Robert E Howard literally wrote the book on this type of fiction.

If you enjoy biographies about ordinary people living extraordinary lives you will love this book. I really enjoyed this book.

Although Alderson presents her story in a light and entertaining fashion, she doesn't gloss over the hardships and tragedies that accompany a homesteader in the late 19th century.

This book traces a short period in the life of a woman who came to Montana from a fairly well-to-do life in Virginia. She was young and probably not prepared for what she encountered. But it is amazing how well she did in the middle of nowhere. I was impressed with her open mindedness and interest in all things. I thought it was very well written. It leaves a lasting impression.

This book was an amazing true account of life in Montana when it was still being settled. The author(s) paint a vivid picture of the "new" West at the time and how men and women lived. I was surprised to learn that it was not all hardship and toil, to the contrary, there was much fun and merriment had. There's an amazing cast of colorful characters that Nannie met as a new young bride on a ranch. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves American history, the Old West, or authobiographies.

This is an amazing novel!!! The more you read, the more intense it gets. The author describes these characters so vividly that they become real. You will love it.

FIVE STARS -- This novel is a don't miss for anyone, but especially those who like to read something a little different. It's one you can't put down because you don't want to wait to find out how the characters interact and react. It's the kind of novel that you wake up in the morning thinking of the characters, feeling as though you know them. Patti's writing brings you right into the novel - you find you don't want to put the book down. [...] in and stimulated my imagination long after I'd read the book!

The characters of this book are the side-show "freaks" in a circus traveling though the midwest of 1900 America. Patti Frazee has shown us that our wishes, dreams, problems, tradegies, make us all the same.
Cojoined twins love different men, disapprove of one-anothers choices. What sisters haven't?
Shanghai the dwarf, has a terrible childhood and carries a burdensome secret. Which of us doesn't have a tale of woe?
Mariana and her husband Jacob are living through betrayal and loss. Neither of them knows how to fix it. Sound familiar?
Once the strangness of these characters is stripped away this is a book about life and the toll it takes on us as we live it. I highly recommend it. And I am looking forward to her next book.

This is an amazing book! The author's style enabled me to join the cirkus myself with every page I turned. There is a character for everyone to identify with which leaves you cheering until the very end. I couldn't put it down. By far one of the best reads ever!

As a Missourian and a professional historian, I looked forward to reading what many consider a classic (even Boatner cites Monaghan). I was misled. This is an insufferable book, almost unreadable, a waste of time. Presuming to knowledge he cannot have, the author is pleased to describe (without citations) the innermost thoughts of historical figures. He insists on calling William Clark Quantrill "Charles;" writes Elias Boudinet for Elias Boudinot. Wallows in cliches (e.g. calls James Lane "the Grim Chieftan" at every opportunity until you want to gag) and racial stereotypes (e.g. his characterization of the "primeval passions" of naturally savage Indians, p. 210; see also every reference to black people). His writing style is so florid and bombastic at times as to rob it of clarity. Thus, while he describes obscure battles covered by few other scholars (hence the second star), it's sometimes hard to tell what's going on. If you want the politics of Bleeding Kansas and the early days of the war in Missouri, see the second volume of Nevins's classic "Emergence of Lincoln" and the first volume of "War for the Union;" if you are interested in the bitterness and hatred that fueled the violence in Missouri during and after the war, Fellman's "Inside War" is the book to read. But don't bother with Monaghan.

This book explains very well why there was so much violence in the Western scenario. If you like, it also explains the violence following the civil war in the reconstruction era. If you are used to draw a gun whenever you see a political opponent one should not be surprised about the cruelties committed by the Klan after the war.

This book also shows the problematic stand the civilized (Indian) nations were confronted with, being forced to choose between Union or Confederacy.

To all Southerners, this is a ballanced account descibing that particular period of time. Buy it.

A very well written book on the history of the Civil war west of the Mississippi. Monaghan covers many of the battles I had tried in vain to locate details on. Covered are the battles of: Carthage, Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove, and Westport. I especially found interesting the involvement of the Five Nations out of Oklahoma. Much is covered concerning the conflicts between Kansas and Missouri, but Texas, Arkansas and others are treated with some detail. Monaghan's writing style is excellent, giving you a good feeling for what happened. You will read and re-read this one.

Fanatical politics of the western frontier, immigrant abolitionists with loaded Spencer rifles funded by mysterious personages back East, cut-throats, gin heads and horse thieves, colorful character descriptions... This book ranks up there with Pea Ridge by Shea and The Civil War by Foote. Absoltuley a must read.

There are quite a few works on the Indian tribes of the Southeast and on Indians more generally but this is the best I've read so far on the tribal group that came to be called the Creek nation who lived in what is today South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Meticulously describing and documenting the vast complexity that underlies this American Indian grouping, J. Leitch Wright clarifies how the Indians known in American history as the Creeks came into existence as the result of the shattering of the old Mississippian culture by the Spanish conquistadors in their march through the American southwest. The Muskogee peoples, Wright indicates, were the remnant groups of that culture who fled eastward and intermingled with various indigenous tribal groups (the Hitchiti speaking tribes) and other remnant groups who drifted southward. The Muskogee speakers were proud and numerous compared with the indigenous groups and other latecomers and so came to dominate those others. But the Muskogees were not, themselves, a single ethnic group because, at an earlier date, other remnant groups had sought and found shelter with them.

The Muskogees did, however, have a sense of superiority over their Mississippian hangers-on who fled east with them (calling them "estinko" which entered the English language as "stinkards") and, unfortunately, they carried that attitude with them into the east. As a result, though the Indian settlements which came to be called "Creek" by the white colonists (possibly taking their name from a group of Hitchiti speakers called Ochese who gave their name to a small body of water where they lived, "Ochese Creek") were mixed from the beginning, the Muskogees tended to dominate. Wright traces the history from colonial to revolutionary to early republic times, showing how the disparate "Creek" groups (he calls them "Muscogulge") gradually split along the Muskogee/non-Muskogee divide with the non-Muskogees consisting of diverse Hichiti, Yuchi and even Shawnee groupings and the Muskogees consisting of the Mississipians and their estinko satellite peoples, agumented by other Indian groups who joined and were ultimately absorbed by them after their arrival in the east.

All of this was made even more complex with the admixture of Africans who escaped the slavery of the English colonists (and later Americans). Because of the Indian practice in that part of the world of determining family relations matrilinearly (the wife and her children were counted as part of the wife's clan, the husband remaining with his own), many of the blacks who were offspring of mixed marriages were counted as tribal members through clan participation if their mother was a member of one of the Indian clans. But if Indian men took African women, who had no Indian clan, for wives, their children were counted as outside the Indian ethnic network. Thus children of mixed parentage could be considered either as Indians or outsiders. The ongoing influx of escaped slaves kept the black segment of the Muskogee population in a somewhat confusing state of flux. At the same time, various white colonists who took Indian wives produced children who came to count themselves as Indians rather than white though they might look more white than Indian and be more acculturated toward white tradition than Indian. Many of the later Creek leaders were the products of such mixtures including Alexander Macgillivray, William Weatherford and William Powell (better known as Osceola).

Wright traces the shifting tides of Indian fortunes and the changes due to white expansion that essentially turned large segments of the Muskogee moiety into "civilized" settlers who, though their heritage and blood was largely of the Creek "nation," took up white farming and business practices. But these changes were incomplete since large parts of the Indian groups retained a commitment to the way of life they had developed during the nation's formative period, with commercial hunting replacing the older hunter-gatherer existence. As the Indians became more dependent on white manufactured goods they had essentially become slaves to hunting for skins and pelts to sell to the white and mestizo (mixed white and Indian) traders and, over time, hunted out the areas in which they lived so that they had to roam farther and farther afield.

At the same time whites continued to move in and press on their territory and to resent the fact that escaped African slaves often found safety and freedom among the Indians. At a certain point, the growing white population, requiring more and more agricultural land (especially after invention of the cotton gin which made cotton plantations profitable and further pushed out the rapidly diminishing fur and skin trade), lusted for Indian territory. There had been substantial movement back and forth between Muscogulge territory in South Carolina, Georgia and what would become Alabama and the Spanish colony of Florida. As the whites in Georgia pushed to strengthen the Muskogee segment of the "Creeks", the old divisions came to the fore and fighting broke out between the two sides. Many disaffected Hitchiti speakers and others of the Creek Nation had been shifting to what had heretofore been hunting grounds in Spanish Florida and, with the divisive struggle initiated by white pressure and support for mestizo Muskogee chief, William McIntosh, more and more refugees fled to Florida. There Spain had followed a practice of providing protection for escaped American slaves from the north in exchange for their bearing arms to defend the Spanish colony against its foes. The Creek Indians, who had been trickling in, were also welcomed in this way, bringing their own mixed race heritage. The earliest of these Indians (largely Hitchiti speakers) had been called Seminole, apparently a corruption of a Spanish term, "cimmarrones," for wild ones. Gradually the many different Indian groups that showed up, largely from one branch or the other of the Creek polity, came to be called "Seminole" in general.

With the War of 1812, the British tried to use the Creek Indians and the Seminole and the escaped Africans living in Florida against the new republic but they broke off their efforts, with the closing of the war, before they had completed this process, leaving the Seminole (of all ethnic groups) and their African allies high and dry. Eventually the new republic repaid the Indians and Africans for siding with the British by going after them in Spanish territory. The Americans wreaked great havoc, destroying Fort Mose, the so-called Negro Fort in the Florida panhandle, and, under Andrew Jackson, marching on and destroying the main Seminole towns in northern Florida in what has been called the First Seminole War, forcing the Indians and Africans to scatter, mostly toward the south.

The Spanish quickly realized they could not hold Florida and sold it to the new United States and this precipitated an influx of white settlers who, like their predecessors and relations in Georgia and Alabama, coveted Indian land. Like their countrymen to the north, as well, they brought the plantation culture with them along with the institution of slavery that supported it. They not only feared the free African towns in the new territory of Florida because these attracted and sheltered runaways, thereby encouraging losses from their slave populations and, possibly, slave revolts, they also found the free Africans and mixed-bloods (Indian and African, called "zambos") a valuable resource for replenishing their slave stock. The new republic, while continuing to allow slavery on a state by state basis, had banned importation of any new slaves and so the source of new slave manpower was now closed to them. On the other hand, Florida appeared to have a feral population of former slaves and their descendants, ripe for the taking.

All these factors, along with the ongoing struggles and divisions back in the Creek lands as whites continuously pressed and encroached upon the native population, using the McIntosh Muskogee faction to dominate the others and deliver up their lands, led to a series of wars including the Creek wars and the Second Seminole War in Florida. The Creek Red Stick rebellion, an outgrowth of the earlier pan-Indian movement of Tecumseh in the north, was broken by Andrew Jackson, and William McIntosh, the Muskogee leader who was his ally, was rewarded at the expense of the largely non-Muskogee Red Sticks who had opposed him. McIntosh Creeks soon came south to Florida to support the U.S. Army in its prosecution of the Second Seminole War, the war in which the Creek warrior Powell became famous as the Seminole war chief, Osceola (Asi Yahola), when he was taken by treachery under a flag of truce to ultimately die in American captivity.

The Second Seminole War dragged on for seven years and, because of the challenging terrain of Florida, proved the most costly of all of America's Indian wars both in terms of blood and treasure. But it eventually led to the whittling down of the Seminoles and their allies as groups were captured or surrendered over those years to be shipped to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Andrew Jackson, now U.S. president, pursued an Indian removal policy (by legislation enacted in Congress in 1830) which forced all the tribes to relocate west across the Mississippi. This applied to the Creeks and their neighboring tribes (including the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee) as well as to the Seminole, themselves mostly refugees from the old Creek polity. It was the effort to enforce this policy in Florida that largely sparked the Second Seminole War though its larger causes included white settler land greed, fear of free blacks and a desire for a new source of slave labor.

In the end, the Seminole were mostly, but not completely, transferred to Oklahoma where the old Creek divisions reared up again as the Seminole struggled to avoid being consolidated under Creek governance. Wright is a little light on all the details of the subsequent conflicts in the new territory but this material is amply documented elsewhere so it's not a major omission. What Wright does provide is a comprehensive and detailed look at who the Creeks were, how they came to be and the forces that led to the numerous conflicts, the Creek downfall and the subsequent history of this Indian nation in the West. Wright is especially good at sorting out the various moieties and linguistic practices and is objective in his judgments, pointing up both the faults and strengths of all the parties. The whites don't get off scot free, to be sure, but the mixed motives, the double dealing and the self interest of all parties are amply described.

SWM
author of The King of Vinland's Saga and A Raft on the River

This book is very very interesting and well written. I had no idea that Creek indians did not really exist. The problem was that there were so many indian tribes in the southeast that the British could not keep them straight. Since most of them lived in villages next to creeks, the Brits just called them Creek Indians. The indians could not figure out why the Brits called them Creeks, but they went along anyway!Creeks and Seminoles: The Destruction and Regeneration of the Muscogulge People (Indians of the Southeast)

THE BOOK WAS VERY WELL WRITTEN WITH LOTS OF INFORMATION WITH ALL THE LATEST FACTS

Wright presents a classical study of the Muscogles and Muscogee nations (Seminoles and Creeks) in the era of colonization through removal. These tribes (which subdivide beyond the Indian names above) were primary located in the southeast mostly in Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Wright does an excellent job of looking at the complex factors that transformed these societies. From race relations with African slaves and whites to diplomacy between the empires, Wright looks at the evolution of these two groups. Ethnically and culturally the tribes differed greatly and although Europeans categorized them as Creeks and Seminoles. While more research has been done in recent years this is a great place to start with in order to gain an understanding of how these tribes interact. It is easy to read and thorough in its coverage of events and capturing the tribes culture and heritage.

This excellent dictionary contains linguistic background, pronounciation and grammar guides, a section on proper names, and illustrations of cultural objects as well as substantial Creek-English and English-Creek dictionary sections. Although the book is called "A Dictionary of Creek/Muskogee," it also includes material on Seminole Creek (one of the two languages spoken by the Seminole people in Florida and Oklahoma).

This dictionary is an incredible improvement on the last version (1890).
I use mine all of the time! Information includes spellings so that any student of linguistics could do proper pronunciation. However, it isn't necessary to be a linguist to utilize it for increasing one's Creek vocabulary. Better definitions and more information are given for every word, something that may be overlooked by those unfamiliar with the dearth of resources previously available to students of the Creek language.
I own two copies at present, and am steadily wearing one out (and I have yet to find a mispelling of "dictionary" or any other word).
It's true that one can't learn a language or a culture from a dictionary alone, but this volume is very helpful to the serious student of Creek.

This "dictioary" is great except for one thing. Instead of being the Muskogee Creek Nation DICTIONARY, it is the Muskogee Creek Nation DICTIOARY. You would think a DICTIONARY would know how to spell its own name.

This is far the best ever dictionary of the Creek (Muskogee) language of Oklahoma and Florida. The authors are a native speaker and teacher of Creek, and a linguist specializing in the analysis of the language. The volume provides spellings in both the traditional and the technical (linguists') spelling systems, and is derived from 19th and 20th century writings in this language as well as the knowledge of contemporary speakers. This will be an essential tool for speakers, writers, teachers, and students of the Creek language, and for historians, anthropologists, and other who need to know the meanings and proper spellings of words in the Creek language.

Are you of the opinion that not even Warren Buffett can redeem Omaha? Do you want proof? Then this is the book for you.
Gleaned from 19th century newspaper headlines, it's all you wanted to know (???) about Omaha, but were afraid to ask. No fiasco goes unturned--claim jumping, parliamentary near-riots, yellow journalism, wild west shows, women of the evening, and even the depth of mud in the Old Market. It's all here in the "cesspool of iniquity!" [No, I didn't say that. It's a quote from a Kansas City newspaper in reference to Omaha!]
Yes, Warren may be the Oracle of Omaha, but this is no Delphi! Kudos, Mr. Bristow.

This book is facinating and everyone who lives in Omaha should be aware of what truly founded our fair city. Omaha has certainly risen above the wickedness of our early history and is a model for many other cities. After living in Omaha for more than half of my life I can say that it stands above the others I have lived in which include the upper midwest, the southeastern coast and Los Angeles. The stories that David Bristow told left me wanting him to continue into the 20th century further than he did. My family for example was a very successful set of bootleggers to Kansas and Missouri. I know there were many other interesting characters in Omaha's history. Come on David....bring us up to now.

The author has taken the best stories from old histories and newspaper accounts, and created a rollicking picture of a frontier town growing up. He documents his sources, and has captured twenty two episodes in early Omaha history, from the founding of Omaha City in 1854 to the Trans-Mississippi & International Exposition and Indian Congress of 1898. It is all told in a highly readable style, with a cast of characters ranging from gamblers and prostitutes to national figures such as George Frances Train, Buffalo Bill Cody,and Ponca Chief Standing Bear. This book will stand as a classic account of Omaha history.

David Bristow's book "A Dirty, Wicked Town: Tales of 19th Century Omaha," published by Caxton Press, is a book that any person with even the most fleeting interest in American history will find very enjoyable.

The 300-page book is divided into 22 chapters, and in a technique reminiscent of what John Dos Passos did in the "USA Trilogy," Bristow includes excerpts from actual newspaper stories to make the historical context more real. Chapters from this work have been included in "Nebraska Life" magazine, with several more forthcoming.

Bristow grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, and graduated from the University of Northern Iowa. He is formally trained in neither creative writing nor history, but instead holds degrees in psychology. Bristow does not embrace the role of historian in a traditional sense, but rather picks and chooses stories that illuminate different dimensions of Omaha history in an interesting way.

He wrote to me in an e-mail from his Omaha home, "My goal was to tell a limited number of true stories, writing each so that it would read like fiction." Instead of writing a comprehensive history, Bristow was free to use his own criteria to select which tales he relates. He tells me, "I chose the stories I did because each has some universal human quality about it--humor, tragedy, love, hatred, hope, injustice, stupidity--and often all of them mixed in together. That's really why any storyteller chooses his or her subject matter."

The book opens with what can be considered as Omaha's first day. In 1854, a hasty Independence Day picnic was broken up by what appeared to be a hostile band of Indians. The early chapters of the book fill in details about Omaha's settlement and its struggle to attain viability as a community. Famous, and not so famous, episodes in Omaha history are told, all with a deep grounding in documented fact.

Bristow should be lauded for his use of primary sources. He tells me that he began his research with the usual history books, but then branched to primary materials like diaries, newspaper accounts and trial transcripts to bring each story to life. Particularly well handled is the account of the 1879 "Trial of Standing Bear" in which Bristow not only retells the story but compares different versions of Standing Bear's famous speech.

One of the themes that emerges in this unique history book is Omaha's struggle to impose the rule of law on a society that was very much controlled by notions of prairie justice, if any justice at all. In many cases, such as the lynching of George Smith in 1891, mob rule reigned and the police stood helpless as a white lynch mob broke into the County Jail and beat and hung a black man.

Shooting down misconceptions to the contrary, Bristow writes, "Omaha was, from the very start, a scheme." He uncovered plots hatched in Omaha as vast as massive land deals and a puny as rigged card games. The chapter "City of Harlots" discusses how proper society tacitly approved of the city's houses of prostitution.

Bristow wrote to me, "In some ways, each slice of the past is like a foreign country, with its own language and customs and assumptions about the world." "A Dirty, Wicked Town" is a well written and thoughtful book of history that serves as a passport to this foreign land.

It is also clear that Bristow writes through the lens of today, and he is comfortable setting up chapters so that readers can make moral judgments about the tales he is relating. He tells me, "Regarding stories such as the lynching of George Smith, I believe it's important for us to understand that those things really happened, and happened here, in this place, and that they were done by people like us. We need to be reminded of what we are capable of doing to each other."