Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America [Hardcover]

Kerry A. Trask (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0805077588 | ISBN-13: 978-0805077582 | Publication Date: December 27, 2005 | Edition: First Edition

A stirring retelling of the Black Hawk War that brings into dramatic focus the forces struggling for control over the American frontier
Until 1822, when John Jacob Aster swallowed up the fur trade and the trading posts of the upper Mississippi were closed, the 6,000-strong Sauk Nation occupied one of North America's largest and most prosperous Indian settlements. Its spacious longhouse lodges and council-house squares, supported by hundreds of acres of planted fields, were the envy of white Americans who had already begun to encroach upon the rich Indian land that served as the center of the Sauk's spiritual world. When the inevitable conflicts between natives and white squatters turned violent, Black Hawk's Sauks were forced into exile, banished forever from the east side of the Mississippi River.
Longing for what their culture had been, Black Hawk and his followers, including 700 warriors, rose up in a rage in the spring of 1832, and defiantly crossed the Mississippi from Iowa to Illinois in order to reclaim their ancestral home. Though the war lasted only three months, no other violent encounter between white America and native peoples embodies so clearly the essence of the Republic's inner conflict between its belief in freedom and human rights and its insatiable appetite for new territory.
Kerry A. Trask gives new and vivid life to the heroic efforts of Black Hawk and his men, illuminating the tragic history of frontier America through the eyes of those who were cast aside in the pursuit of the new nation's manifest destiny.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

After the Black Hawk War of 1832, Black Hawk himself became a celebrity whose portrait and autobiography were sought by a white world cognizant that the Sauk leader's defeat extinguished a Native American way of life. As historian Trask observes, that fate was romantically lamented by eastern writers but welcomed by western white settlers who experienced Black Hawk's attempt to return to his band's traditional land (present-day Rock Island, Illinois). Trask incorporates astute analysis of these variant white idealizations and prejudices about Native Americans as well as a superbly sensitive perspective on Black Hawk's view of his people's predicament. Trask is sympathetic but critical of Black Hawk's actions in urging the Sauk to take an ultimately aimless trek that culminated in a disastrous massacre. On the other hand, Trask turns over Black Hawk's possible intentions, appraising his understanding of imposed treaties that exiled the Sauk and his erroneous expectation that the British would support them. Bound to be popular, Trask's fine synthesis of historical frontier context and immediate events judiciously partakes of pathos and erudition. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Kerry A. Trask, a scholar of early-American history, is a professor at the
University of Wisconsin-Manitowoc who earned his Ph.D. at the University of
Minnesota. Trask is the author of two previous books; his most recent is Fire Within: A Civil War Narrative from Wisconsin, which was awarded the Leslie Cross Nonfiction Award in 1996. He now lives on the west shore of Lake Michigan.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; First Edition edition (December 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805077588
• ISBN-13: 978-0805077582
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #212,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read for all American History Enthusiasts, February 12, 2006

By 

Steven R. Koppelman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America (Hardcover)

Though I came to the subject of Black Hawk and this book as a result of my constant reading about the life of Abraham Lincoln (he was a militia captain at age 23 in the Black Hawk War), I soon found that there was much more to this story than first meets the eye.

As the sub-title suggests, in many ways a battle for the heart of America, both figuratively and literally, was taking place in the first half of the 19th century. Americans continued their westward expansion into the lands that Native Americans called their own, leading inevitably to bloodshed.

The Black Hawk War is perhaps generally unknown, but, as masterfully laid out here by Kerry A. Trask, it will never be forgotten once you read this book. You will gain an understanding of life on the frontier from both the Native American and "White" points of view. Once gained, this knowledge is quickly put to use as Trask details the various battles and encounters that took place during the War, as well as the rationale for them.

Many of the individuals on both sides are vividly brought to life, Henry Dodge on the American side certainly comes to mind, but it's Black Hawk himself, much an enigma, who will keep you enthralled.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A new perspective., February 22, 2006

By 

P. Rees (Oregon IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America (Hardcover)

I had a personal interest in this book because the Black Hawk war was fought literally in my back yard. This engrossing book game me a new perspective of the circumstances about the war. The history and tradition of the Sauk, the onslaught of emigrant settlers and the clash of cultures are well depicted in the book Black Hawk. The savagery of the Sauk and the Militia, the famous people involved in the struggle and the intrigue and deception kept my interest and I didn't put the book down until it was finished. I highly recommend it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding - Much more than dry history, April 21, 2006

By 

Ed Smith (Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America (Hardcover)

I came upon this book entirely by accident while killing time waiting for a flight. I spent my first 21 years in Northwest Illinois, and while I only became interested in U.S. history 30 years after moving away, as Trask states at the end of this book, people from that part of the Midwest can't really get away from Black Hawk. It was certainly one of our myths, tangential to history, growing up there. I had no idea that Alexander Hamilton's son, sometime Indian fighter, had a fort within ten miles of my hometown and Henry Dodge, founder of Dodgeville, became a frontier hero in a nearby skirmish. Author Trask is dead-on contrasting today's sleepy Illinois-Wisconsin towns with their brief brushes with Black Hawk during the summer of 1832. The whole story fits nicely, or maybe awkwardly, into white America's concept of settling North America.

I found the book fascinating and an artful mix of history and perspective. There is just enough analysis of white and native interaction and perspective to keep this anything but a dry historical account. The research seems meticulous, the writing and editing superb, and the narrative strong enough to make the book a page turner. It is hard for me to imagine better coverage of the Black Hawk War.

I'll have to disagree with another reviewer who thinks Trask goes to far with naive, modernist analysis. I hate pedantic, term-paper analysis and frankly, I found very little here. I liked his Trickster analogy and was most happy this book was not a rote recital of historical events.