"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" got at my heart!

I recently finished reading "Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown. I stumbled across this book while rushing after my child through the aisles of the library. The image on the cover caught my eye and as soon as I read the summary I was hooked.

Summary: History of the American Indian displacement and extermination from the West throughout the nineteenth century. It delves into the corrupt, malicious, and violent practices of the American government to steal the Indians' lands and destroy their entire way of life based on the fact that the Indians were not white or Christian.

I can put it no better than this is an amazing read! D. Brown was brilliant for focusing on "how the West was won" from the victims point of view rather than the conqueror. I was thoroughly impressed by the massive amount of facts and details that were written so matter-of-factly. Information that I was astonished that I had never heard of before. I had always known that the American government had cheated and killed Indians without mercy, but I had no idea of the full extent of their debauchery.

Side note, this will most likely make you feel twinges of guilt or shame. And at times you may want to cry or find a time machine to go back into the 1860s and beat up a few corrupt government officials.

I think books like this are most important  because they explain history from "another" point of view. It has always been my understanding that the history books were written by the  subjugator. Thus you get an inaccurate portrayal of history. By getting the subjected's view, you can better understand what the truth is.

And of course, it's important to remember and learn from past atrocities. After reading this, I have no doubt in calling what happened to the American Indian a Holocaust of the most grievous nature. Unfortunately, these kinds of genocides continue to our day and increase in horror with technology. Thus, we all need to learn and pass on this information.

I HIGHLY recommend this book!!! If you have read it, please let me know what you thought.