Customer Reviews

Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America

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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.

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.

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.

Dr. Trasks's work FINALLY attempts to balance the Black Hawk War with something other than Black Hawk-- the hundreds of other personalities and downright characters that participated in the 12 week war. A bold, even radical departure from the tired monographs from the 1970s on the same subject. For a change, Black Hawk is looked at as a human being-- and not a sub-diety-- and major players including Dodge and Henry are seen in the significant roles thay played-- and not as smaller than life 'angry white guys.'

The book does have some drawbacks. I agree with the numerous post-modern "Professorisms" that leak into the book (as mentioned by a previous reviewer.) Trask ardently refuses to cut through the the accounts of Stillman's Run to present his interpretation of what happened.
Three American accounts indicated that BH's men fired first; BH does not indicate that in his autobiography-- and Trask waivers between "can't decide" and siding with BH anyway. Trask makes mincemeat of early settlers (calling the frontiersman a "myth" and presenting a big dissertation regarding Trask's use of James Fennimore Cooper's work as an example of an indian captivity story upon which the myth subsisted. unfortunately he neglects to tell his readers that the captive narrrative in Cooper's "Last of the Mohicans" was in part based on TRUE events!

All in all, the narrative is much more balanced that previous works, and is generally insightful into the conflict as a product of its times. Buy or borrow it.

This book gives detailed information related to the causes, effects, and events leading up to, and including the BLACK HAWK WAR. While the title suggests the book is a biography of Black Hawk's life, it is not that at all--and this did not disappoint me in the least.

Trask tells the story with just the right amount of depth, and in a contemporary, reader-friendly style. I had read a few other books about the BLACK HAWK WAR and Black Hawk's autobiography, but this book was more thorough, and easily understood. There are ample footnotes and resources listed in the apppendix for those who desire further research.

Like some of the previous reviewers, I grew up in Black Hawk country. As a result, I have read many accounts of the Black Hawk War, and this is one of the best.

Black Hawk : The Battle for the Heart of America is fair and balanced (and not in a Fox News kind of way). Trask documents the rapacity of the government and the businessmen who cheated the Sauk and Fox out of their lands. He discusses the Indian culture in which internecine warfare, including revenge murders and mutilations, was considered to be an essential element of manhood, and how this reputation led to panic among the whites and the subsequent overreaction to the Sauk incursion into Illinois. He explains how a similar macho culture among the white frontiersmen led many of them to feel they had to prove their own manhood by going out and killing a few Indians. He points out not only Black Hawk's qualities as a leader but also the flaws that eventually contributed to the destruction of his people in a tragic precursor to the massacres at Sand Creek and Wounded Knee.

Trask's book tends to concentrate more on the social and cultural issues behind the conflict rather than on the military campaign. This is appropriate and after reading the book, I feel I have a much better understanding of the background of this significant episode in American history. However, I would have liked to have seen a little more detail about such military events as the Battle of Stillman's Run in which Black Hawk led 40 Sauk warriors against 300 Illinois Militiamen and completely routed them.

I was also annoyed by the fact that Trask chose to end this otherwise excellent book with a rather silly and specious analysis of why so many things in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin are named after Black Hawk. It's guilt; he says. I disagree. People everywhere like to identify with famous people that lived in their area. In central Illinois, things are named after Abraham Lincoln, and across the Mississippi in northern Missouri, after Mark Twain. In my area, it's Black Hawk. If the people south of us feel guilty about Abe and Mark, that's their problem. Around here Black Hawk is the only famous and heroic figure we've got, so we build strip malls and bowling alleys in his honor. And if that theory sounds silly and specious to you, well I have an excuse-I don't know what I'm talking about.

This is a focused history of the "Black Hawk War"" which took place in 1832 in what are now northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, between the local militia and a band of Sauk and Fox Indians under the command of Black Hawk. Trask describes the state of relations between Native Americans and settlers during that time period, and briefly covers the history and traditions of Black Hawk's people, as well as Black Hawk himself, who at the time was an elder statesman with no real authority among his people, but a great deal of influence. However, after this background information, Black Hawk himself is not very prominent in this book, making the title and cover illustration misleading. Instead, Trask's historical coverage becomes a standard account of the settlers' military movements and strategies.

Meanwhile, trouble arises when Trask attempts to explain the motivations and inner thoughts of all those involved (first of all, beware of any historical or biographical work that claims to know exactly what people were thinking). In a great disservice to the informed history buff, Trask uses a creaky postmodern cultural studies focus, applying modern intellectual concepts to historical developments. On at least four different occasions, Trask goes off on extended discussions of gender issues and identity politics, with multiple attempts to analyze how "manly" the Indians and settlers had to feel at the time. Trask also makes several very weak attempts to explain Black Hawk's behavior via the trickster motif from Native American mythology, in an exercise that you'd expect from a student trying to impress a history teacher. The book then concludes with some half-hearted ruminations on White guilt and the politics of glamorizing Indians. Hence, rusty professorisms unnecessarily weigh down on this book, but fortunately the basic history of the Black Hawk War remains informative. [~doomsdayer520~]

I purchased this book for my history buff husband. He loved it. Great writing.

This book should have been titled "The Men that Fought Black Hawk," as it deals more with the American forces than Black Hawk himself and his Indian band. While this is certainly an invited viewpoint that is perhaps under-represented in this famous conflict, I felt a little deceived. I had bought this book to learn more about the enigmatic nature of Black Hawk himself, and found little more than generalizations that described him as confused or powerless.

Trask dutifully chronicles the American side of the conflict with great skill and pace, and for this he should be commended. But the Native side of the story is (as usual) left out. The book starts off with two promising chapters explaining why the Sauk were so upset in light of the changing world around them. A later chapters discusses the Sauk practices regarding war and battle, but the rest of the book is devoted to American troop movements and military correspondence. At this point, I couldn't help but feel that the book was being told solely from the American point of view. Trask has crafted a well researched and highly articulate book with a very narrow focus, and it just wasn't what had been promised by both the title and the description on the back cover.

Unless you're a big 19th century American military buff, I would search for other resources to better understand the Black Hawk conflict.

Book was in GREAT condition- also a great read. This was a gift to a friend who lives in Galena near where one of the battles took place and it made a great addition to her collection of books on the Territory. Books are always great gifts! Thanks again for your honesty regarding the condition of the book.....as we buy site unseen.....and rely on the seller.