The Earth Is Weeping

November 14, 2016
In this sweeping narrative, Cozzens (Shenandoah 1862), an expert on 19th-century warfare, confronts Dee Brown's classic text, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Cozzens finds it too reductive in its treatment of the various Native American tribes involved in the bloody contests over land that raged from the 1860s until 1890. He persuasively argues that those who allied with the U.S. government and took up arms against other tribes can't be dismissed as simply greedy, and he zeroes in on issues that motivated each tribe to choose sides. After opening on the plains of Wyoming with Red Cloud's War of the 1860s, the first half of the book builds to the crescendo of Custer's "last stand" at the Little Bighorn in 1876. Cozzens tucks into this section an insightful chapter on how Native Americans and the U.S. Army both trained men to fight. The second half ranges from the betrayal of the Nez Perce in the Northwest to the bitter conflicts in Apacheria in the Southwest, concluding with the 1890 slaughter at Wounded Knee. Cozzens excels in describing battles and the people who orchestrated and participated in them, expertly weaving in the relevant politics and never shying away from the role racism played in this destructive warfare. Maps & illus.

A sturdy overview of the Indian Wars.Cozzens (Battlefields of the Civil War: The Battles that Shaped America, 2011, etc.) turns his attention westward to the combat between invading whites and Natives along the frontier. Traditional histories set the beginnings of that conflict with the Sioux Uprising of 1862, but Cozzens starts in 1866 with the better-studied war of resistance mounted by Red Cloud. His long narrative continues to the shameful massacre of the Sioux at Wounded Knee a generation later, a compressed period with many set pieces, from the Battle of Little Bighorn to the murder of Crazy Horse and the Geronimo Campaign. The author covers all the ground dutifully if without much flair; this is a narrative of facts more than ideas, and it sometimes plods. Still, Cozzens is not without insight--"the Indians who had gone to war against the government had usually done so reluctantly," he writes, "and they had lost their land and their way of life anyway"--and there is much merit in having a readable history of the Indian Wars in one volume. Cozzens promises to "bring historical balance" to the story, and he does, but this mostly means demonstrating to readers that not all whites were devils and not all tribes that were not wholeheartedly in resistance were sellouts, the view we have been accustomed to since Dee Brown's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1970). As Cozzens notes on the latter score, many Native groups saw the federal government as a reliable protector against rival tribes, and regardless, instances were few where there was monolithic opposition to the whites even within a group. Still, as Gen. George Crook noted of the Indians, "all the tribes tell the same story. They are surrounded on all sides, the game is destroyed or driven away, they are left to starve, and there remains but one thing for them to do--fight while they can." A useful one-volume history refreshingly without many bones to pick but also without much fire. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from September 1, 2016
The settlement or conquest of the trans-Mississippi West is embedded in our national consciousness, and the military defeat and confinement of the various Indian tribes is an integral part of that epic story. Cozzens, who has written extensively on the various Indian wars, offers a magnificent single-volume account of the postCivil War conflicts that shaped our history and the mythology of the frontier, spanning four decades and ranging from the Great Plains to the Pacific and from Canada to Mexico. In examining the various Indian tribes and subgroupings within them, Cozzens does an admirable job of conveying their complexity and political divisions. We learn, for example, about the disdain many Apaches held for Geronimo as well as the conflict between progressive and traditional Lakotas as they coped with reservation life. Icons like Custer, Cochise, and Crazy Horse are given their due, but Cozzens also covers less well-known figures and conflicts, including Captain Jack (Kintpuash) and the Modoc War, and the particularly tragic defeat and displacement of the Utes in Colorado. American military leaders, especially generals Crook and Miles, are viewed honestly and sometimes sympathetically, and Indian leaders are treated with equal balance and fairness. This is a beautifully written work of understanding and compassion that will be a treasure for both general readers and specialists.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

August 1, 2016

Leading historian Cozzens (Shenandoah 1862) builds on his earlier regional works to provide a comprehensive assessment of the wars for control of the American West. In a declared effort to provide historical perspective and balance, this work examines intertribal conflicts along with battles between Native Americans and European settlers, with Cozzens noting that earlier intertribal disputes in the east forced many tribal nations westward onto the Great Plains by the 1860s. Major battles from Minnesota to Northern California to the Southwest are included, including Major Eugene Baker's unprovoked and tragic attack on chief Heavy Runner's Piegan Blackfeet village on the Marias River in January 1870. The Marias Massacre resulted in the U.S. Army losing its controlling influence on Indian affairs under President Ulysses S. Grant's Peace Policy. Recounted are stories of leaders on both sides of the conflicts. This updated account of these 19th-century battles incorporates Native oral history as well as primary documents from army archives. Presenting the battles in chronological order with a single narrative voice, the book offers both historical context and insight. VERDICT Highly recommended for the intertwined history of Native Americans and the post-Civil War frontier U.S. Army. [See Prepub Alert, 4/10/16.]--Nathan Bender, Albany Cty. P.L., Laramie, WY

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016

In the 16 books he has authored or edited, Cozzens has written about both the Civil War and the Indian Wars of the American West. Here he focuses on the latter, gathering up events transpiring over three-plus decades to produce a sweeping account of savage fighting that ranged from Kansas to the Dakotas, the Southwest, and the Pacific Northwest. See a related essay this fall in the Smithsonian.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 15, 2016
A sturdy overview of the Indian Wars.Cozzens (Battlefields of the Civil War: The Battles that Shaped America, 2011, etc.) turns his attention westward to the combat between invading whites and Natives along the frontier. Traditional histories set the beginnings of that conflict with the Sioux Uprising of 1862, but Cozzens starts in 1866 with the better-studied war of resistance mounted by Red Cloud. His long narrative continues to the shameful massacre of the Sioux at Wounded Knee a generation later, a compressed period with many set pieces, from the Battle of Little Bighorn to the murder of Crazy Horse and the Geronimo Campaign. The author covers all the ground dutifully if without much flair; this is a narrative of facts more than ideas, and it sometimes plods. Still, Cozzens is not without insightthe Indians who had gone to war against the government had usually done so reluctantly, he writes, and they had lost their land and their way of life anywayand there is much merit in having a readable history of the Indian Wars in one volume. Cozzens promises to bring historical balance to the story, and he does, but this mostly means demonstrating to readers that not all whites were devils and not all tribes that were not wholeheartedly in resistance were sellouts, the view we have been accustomed to since Dee Browns Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1970). As Cozzens notes on the latter score, many Native groups saw the federal government as a reliable protector against rival tribes, and regardless, instances were few where there was monolithic opposition to the whites even within a group. Still, as Gen. George Crook noted of the Indians, all the tribes tell the same story. They are surrounded on all sides, the game is destroyed or driven away, they are left to starve, and there remains but one thing for them to dofight while they can. A useful one-volume history refreshingly without many bones to pick but also without much fire.

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.