Chronicle of the Indian Wars: From Colonial Times to Wounded Knee [Hardcover]

Alan Axelrod (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1993

From the movie screen to the printed page, Native American culture and history have earned a significant place in the country's imagination. Now, in a fast-paced and authoritative narrative sure to become a standard reference in the field, historian Alan Axelrod looks back at 400 years of a violent and tragic struggle as the Indians fought to protect their lands from white colonizers. Photos, line drawings and maps.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

To many Americans, "Indian Wars" connotes the ongoing battles in the West during the late 19th century. Actually, native North Americans and whites were in conflict from early encounters with Spanish, French, Dutch and English, leading to four centuries of warfare on some level. Historian Axelrod ( Art of the Golden West ) offers a comprehensive account of the Indian wars, major and minor (some of the latter may be remembered only as footnotes to local history). Furnishing brief profiles of leaders who fought on each side, he discusses captivity, treaties and the reservation system. Well-documented and smoothly written, this is a valuable reference work for students of history. Illustrations not seen by PW. Military Book Club selection.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Axelrod, the author of a number of books on the West and the Civil War, offers a comprehensive popular account of the Euro-American conquest of Native Americans. His book is nicely illustrated and contains interesting sidebars. It also provides an extensive bibliography of secondary sources. However, quotes from primary sources are not cited. Most of these quotes deal with particularly lurid aspects of murder and mayhem. Because Axelrod is featured in The Wild West , a ten-hour Warner television series, there may be some demand. This is recommended for libraries seeking a popular update to works such as Robert M. Utley and Wilcomb Washburn's The American Heritage History of the Indian Wars ( LJ 11/15/77).
- Daniel Liestman, Seattle Pacific Univ. Lib.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan General Reference; 1st edition (January 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671846507
• ISBN-13: 978-0671846503
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,557,313 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Broad brush on Red-White warfare, December 24, 2001

By 

John Elsegood (Perth, Western Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chronicle of the Indian Wars: From Colonial Times to Wounded Knee (Hardcover)

Alan Axelrod has used a broad brush approach to chronicle the Red-White conflicts of North America from earliest times through to 1890.

The album-style book, with boxed articles to complement the main story, gives the reader a good overview of the conflicts and personalities and this, plus a good chronology and bibliography, points the reader to a more detailed reading of specific eras. Because of Axelrod's book, together with a recent visit to South Dakota and New Mexico, my interest to read more on Native American history has been stimulated, particularly the warfare on the Plains, from the 1860s to 1890, during the period of the great Lakota chief Red Cloud, (plus Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull).

The colonial period, for which I have had an abiding passion is also well covered including King Philip's War (1675-6), a war that pro-rata of population was the most savage fought on American soil; plus the revolutionary struggles of the great Loyalist Indian, Joseph Brant.

I thought I had detected a minor error when the author had a sub-heading claiming King William's War (1689-97) started in 1688, which was a bit difficult as the Orangeman did not take the crown off James II until the end of that year and the war really commenced the following year. However, the author qualifies it in the text to say the early skirmishing was known as the Abnaki War with intensification taking place in North America after the European conflict commenced in 1689.
Also a book of 280 pages covering such a vast period can, by definition, only give an overview of the period.

Nevertheless Axelrod has produced an entertaining chronicle of periods of intensely interesting, if often forgotten, aspects of American history.