Customer Reviews

Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As one who has visited the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana on virtually an annual basis for almost 50 years, I recognize that by going to the physical source of his subject, Dr. Nerburn has captured the spirit of the Nez Perce saga. Past biographies of Joseph such as Beal, I Will Fight No More Forever: Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War (1973), fail to disclose that he was hardly a Napoleonic war leader, but rather the caretaker of his tribe during their crisis. Similarly, earlier efforts to describe the Nez Perce fell short in explaining the importance of their Appaloosa horse breeding to tribal pride. As an owner of such equines, I understand how unique is that breed in terms of stamina and courage.

In short, the author, through his four years of meaningful interaction with the Nez Perce of today, coupled with intensive academic research of such record as exists of their history, has presented a fair, realistic portrayal of a veritable sin committed by the then government of our country, crying out for atonement even today.

Adrian P. Schoone
6220 Partridge Hills Dr.
Racine, WI 53406

I devoured this new book about Chief Joseph and even took notes on it...some inspiring things I wanted to remember, as well as some convicting things I must never forget. I have read other works about the Nez Perce and, in fact, I live in the Pacific Northwest and have visited many of the areas related to this part of history. But, I have never heard or read some of the things that Mr. Nerburn includes in his book. They are real and intimate and raw...and clearly tell "the rest of the story". I was sad when I finished it...like a very honest friend had to stop our very wonderful interaction. I will keep my copy and read it again and reference it often. I have read several of Mr. Nerburn's books...his voice resonates with my own. I highly recommend all of his work, but at this moment I would encourage everyone to get a fresh and vivid look at this man, Joseph, and his people by reading this book. You won't regret it.

The flight of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce in the 1800's is told with love and great skill by Kent Nerburn in his new book. The events are historically accurate, but presented as a great story by a great story teller. It's history that reads like a novel. I felt like I was there with the soldiers in the frozen North as they pursued the small band who desired only the freedom to live as their creator intended. I was there with the Nez Perce as their elders and children died one by one during the tragic flight. I felt their pain and suffering. I recommend this book highly to anyone not satisfied with the history as it was taught to us in our schools, and who desire the true story of this sad chapter in the story of the American West. I say thanks to Mr. Nerburn for this fascinating and absorbing labor of love. Five Stars.

I am an avid reader of history and biography. I am especially interested in Native Americans and other indigenous people. Their stories have been told by non-Native people for years, usually poorly or with a very European bias. Either the authors have no sensitivity to the native world view or they romanticize the Native people. It is rare when an author gives us a picture of a different world in a way that feels authentic. Chief Joseph and the Flight of the Nez Perce by Kent Nerburn feels authentic. I feel like I am there on the Nez Perce flight.

I was familiar with this author's work from his novel, Neither Wolf nor Dog, which is one of my favorite books about Native people. So I expected a good read. But I didn't expect a book of such historical accuracy and narrative power.

Nerburn gives us a real story of real people caught in history's web. He doesn't fictionalize but his work reads like a great work of fiction. This is something I associate with only the best authors.

Too many authors forget the "story" part of "history". This book doesn't make that mistake. One of my pet peeves is when a writer stands back and tells me how to think. Nerburn just tells me the story. He takes us into events like we are there.

I wish he would have spent more time on Joseph's later life. He gives us tantalizing anecdotes about Joseph meeting Buffalo Bill and Joseph's sad speech in Seattle. But he doesn't go into the kind of detail he does in other places. Where he goes into detail he is one of the best historical writers I have ever read. His recreation of the seige and surrender at the Bear Paw mountains should be required reading for every historical writer.

This should be required reading for all those people buying books about the Founding Fathers. It would open their eyes.

I loved this book. In vivid detail, Kent Nerburn, in his "Chief Joseph and the Flight of the Nez Perce," fulfills his promise to show Chief Joseph's true greatness, which myth has obscured, eventually rendering the great man what the author aptly describes as a kind of "hood ornament."

When the U.S. military captured the Nez Perce, other chiefs fled. Joseph stayed with and cared for his bands during their circuitous, grueling travels as prisoners of the U.S. government, while the President and military officials decided how inexpensively they could house the Nez Perce from then on.

Joseph, already a myth in the eyes of the U.S. populace as the leader of the Nez Perce tribe's masterly escape from the "best that the U.S. military had to offer," used his fame to advocate for his bands before Presidents and Congress. Although feted and celebrated, he failed to get adequate results. He was unaware that Indian genocide was being considered.

This is the most horrific account of displacement I have ever encountered. A huge number of Nez Perce died on route, particularly the elderly and the very young, sickened by starvation and killed by white diseases to which they had no immunity.

"Chief Joseph" took place during Reconstruction following the Civil War, a time when government resources were lacking and nerves worn. Soldiers and officers assigned to the Indian front typically lacked basic military skills and the experience necessary to handle Indians with sensitivity and tact.

I recommend this book to people who like history that is presented as narrative, offering the kind of momentum and characterization that you find in novels.

What I like about Kent Nerburn's books is that they make you feel like you are present in an event. Neither Wolf nor Dog is one of my favorite books of all time because it brought me into a story in a way I didn't think was possible. Chief Joseph and the Flight of the Nez Perce does the same thing in a very different way because it is a part of our history as a nation and not just the story of one man like Neither Wolf nor Dog.

I feel like I took a long sad journey when I read this book. I learned things about America I never knew and wish I had been taught. I will make my children read this book if their teachers in history don't. This is a book everyone should read who wants to know what really happened in our nation.

It is easy reading because it reads like a story or a novel. It reads like a Steven Ambrose book but takes you much closer to the actual events. If you want to feel like you are actually there with the Nez Perce and Chief Joseph on their journey this is the book for you. It will open your eyes.

wow. this is truly an amazing book. anyone familiar with mr. nerburn's works may not be surprised by the fact that before you know it you have finished the book...and you don't want it to be over. his style and prose allows the reader to visualize like no other history book can. it is amazing that this is a biography, not a work of fiction. the depth and knowledge that was accumulated by mr. nerburn is astounding and lends its hand to the fact that this is not just a work done by a historian, but by a person deeply and wholly affected by the mistreatment of the american indian. his heart is in, and on, each and every page. you cannot afford to pass on this biography. surely, it will become known as "the" book on the plight of the nez perce. it is a beautiful, perfectly written, masterpiece.

I sat with Kent Nerburn for a couple of hours over breakfast one morning while he was still working on the book. I knew then that it would be good. I'd read "Neither Wolf Nor Dog" and knew this was no usual writer. This was a man with an honest heart, a keen, inquiring mind, and enough humility and self-doubt to keep him reexamining his own motives and assumptions.
One can not ask more of a historian.
My only real criticism of the book was his reference to Custer's soldiers being "murdered" by the Lakota and Cheyenne. Custer's men died in battle, weapons in hand, while attacking a sovereign people. That's not murder; it's defense.
Spotted Horse, adopted Kainai

I was given this book for Christmas because people know I am interested in Native America. I had read many books that talk about Chief Joseph and I thought I knew the story. What I want to know is how can so many books be so wrong? Almost every book talks about Joseph as the leader of the Nez Perce flight. Kent Nerburn shows the real story about how Joseph really took leadership only after the surrender.
This is really a book about the myth of the American Indian as much as about a historical figure. At least for me it showed me how we can turn a man into a myth to suit our needs.
I have never read a book quite like this. It reads like a novel. I felt like I was along with the Indians and the soldiers.
I also never knew about what happened to the tribe after they were captured. That story is really almost more interesting than the chase. Joseph really comes across as a man who knew what he was doing with how he used the newspapers and let himself be made into a hero.
This book is like a history and a tragedy and a novel all at once. It will entertain you and teach you and make you cry.

I bought this book because I like Kent Nerburn's writing (Neither Wolf Nor Dog) and I was looking for a book to take on vacation. Well, I didn't get to read it on vacation (too busy, you know how it goes), but I sat down with it the first Saturday morning after we returned home. I literally couldn't put the book down. I kept thinking, "I'll stop reading when I get sleepy or restless or bored with reading." It never happened. I finished the book late that evening. It's been a very long time since I've done that!

I didn't know anything about Chief Joseph and I had to look up how to pronounce Nez Perce, but the story is so well written and the characters so balanced and well developed that it was as if I was a part of the story, watching the events unfold in front of me. My ignorance was probably an advantage because every time I'd put the book down, I'd come right back to it wanting to find out what was going to happen next.

This is a wonderful book. I highly recommend it.