Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: The Illustrated Edition: An Indian History of the American West [Hardcover]

Dee Brown (Author), Hampton Sides (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009

For the first time: a full-color illustrated edition of Dee Brown’s classic history of the American West!

Eloquent, heartbreaking, and meticulously documented, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee follows the systematic destruction of the American Indian during the second half of the 19th century. Upon its publication in 1970, the book was universally lauded and became a cultural phenomenon that proved instrumental in transforming public perceptions of manifest destiny and the “winning” of the West.

Using council records, autobiographies, and firsthand descriptions, Brown’s work highlighted the voices of those American Indians who actually experienced the battles, massacres, and broken treaties. Here is their view of the events that ultimately left them demoralized and defeated, including: the Battle of Sand Creek; Red Cloud’s War; the Battle of the Little Bighorn; and, of course, the Wounded Knee Massacre. Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, and Spotted Tail—the great chiefs and warriors of the Dakota, Ute, Cheyenne, and other tribes—come to life through their own words and formal portraits.

Now, hundreds of illustrations—including maps, photographs, sketches, and paintings—enhance Brown’s masterpiece, making it even more vivid and personal. In addition to the incredible images, this edition also features relevant excerpts from such highly acclaimed Native-American themed books as Where White Men Fear to Tread by Russell Means, Mystic Chords of Memory by Michael Kammen, and Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog, as well as all-new essays by contemporary historians and Native American leaders like Elliott West and Joseph Marshall III.

 

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

It is a hard fact that history creates winners and losers. Brown’s landmark work, first published in 1970, movingly illustrated that truism as he narrates the destruction of the cultures of various Native American groups in the trans-Mississippi west between 1860–90. Brown, who was a librarian at the University of Illinois for decades, was determined to balance the books by writing an account of the winning of the West from a Native American perspective. This latest edition, embellished by more than 300 illustrations and several interesting essays, has both the weaknesses and strengths of the original work. Critics, with some justification, have noted Brown’s glossing over the unsavory aspects of some Native American groups, including their idealization of warfare. In his efforts to portray Native Americans as victims, his constant emphasis on American rapaciousness and duplicity is over the top. Still, Brown’s essential message retains its power and conveys eloquently the tragedy of a people displaced and humiliated by the advance of an expanding aggressive civilization that they could neither cope with nor comprehend. --Jay Freeman

About the Author

A librarian for many years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dee Brown was the author of more than 25 books on the American West and the Civil War. His Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, considered a classic in its field, was a New York Times bestseller for over a year and has been translated into many languages. Dee Brown died in 2002.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 560 pages
• Publisher: Sterling Innovation; Ill edition (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402760663
• ISBN-13: 978-1402760662
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 9.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #40,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #67 in Books > History > Americas > Native American

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars historic read, February 3, 2010

By 

D. McFarland (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: The Illustrated Edition: An Indian History of the American West (Hardcover)

Saw this book at the Smithsonian Indiian Museum in Washington DC. My husband couldn't put it down. This is the one with the illustrations which really brings home the story. Great read, great book. Anyone interested in learning the other side of the Indian story needs to read this.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some Original Photos Deleted, August 25, 2010

By 

Steve Zubal "OXONOXO" (Pine Island FL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: The Illustrated Edition: An Indian History of the American West (Hardcover)

The original is a very well written book, nearly every chapter is a story in itself. Together they give an overview of the partail genocide and internment in concentration camps/reservations of some of the most prominent "Native American" tribes, along with other interesting facts and fantastic photos. My only gripe with this latest edition is that many of the original photos have been deleted, most of them are replaced with alternates of the same subject, but not all. The pics. of Roman Nose and Wovoka are gone replaced only with charcoal drawings. One of my favorites, Big Eagle brandishing his war club is gone, replaced with a photo that does'nt jump of the page the way the original does. This new edit. has a number of essays interspearsed through the chapters, an infomitive preface, many new photos and two maps, all of which are welcome. I was hopeing the maps would be of more assistance, they date from 1852 which is well before the 1860-1890 time-line of the narrative. They leave alot to be desired for answering questions like: Where is the "Smokey Hill"?...refered to with great frequency in the early chapters. If you've not read this book I suggest an earlier edition as it should have a better flow reading it as it was first intended, then since the vast majority of readers will be compelled to reread this classic, buy the expanded version for an even more enjoyable reread. A sample of the interesting facts aforementioned: (July 1860 the repeating rifle invented)...To me this shows that the Union Army finally had the ability to wage war with the confederates, carry on their genocide doctorine of free peoples, while standing ready to defend against a potential foriegn invader like Great Britten. The union could'nt have done all three without repeating rifles, so as soon as they had them they wasted no time forceing their agenda. Consider: What if slaves had been granted freedom while tribal Americans were free? Drums, danceing, tribal religion...these two tribes of man flurishing stood firmly in the way of corporate America and still do, as propaganda wars are as prominent as ever.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Sad, September 27, 2010

By 

Mike B (CANADA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: The Illustrated Edition: An Indian History of the American West (Hardcover)

A rather relentless exposure of the deliberate slaughter of the American Indians of the American West from 1850 to 1890. It does become depressing as we move from one chapter to the next and one tribe after another is lied to, plundered, forced to re-locate and its' members killed off through-out all these phases. It is indeed a very sad reflection on America.

In these pages there are very few Americans who made a genuine attempt to deal humanly with the Indian nations. The only thing that can be said is that the European Americans (settlers, miners, industrialists, railroaders and soldiers) saw land and took it. The reservation system was simply land that no Americans wanted and forced the Indians to occupy it at dire cost.

In the long history of modernity coming in contact with tribal peoples, little good ever occurs to the indigenous population. This is certainly borne out in the pages of this book.

What is also interesting is the complete disconnect between Washington government policy and events happening to the Indians out West instigated by the settlers and the army.

It must also be remembered that at this time African Americans were enslaved or had just been released from slavery. They too were a disenfranchised people on the American continent. It is hardly surprising in this context, that Native Americans had much to fear from the movement of European Americans to the West. America was not a society that had a history of dealing benevolently or equitably with non-Europeans.

This new Sterling edition has wonderful photographs and illustrations of a long ago vanished people.