Customer Reviews

Trail of Tears

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Jahoda's "Trail of Tears" is a good companion to Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" - in fact, Brown basically picks up where Jahoda leaves off both chronologically and geographically. Although hardly comprehensive (such an account of the Indian removals east of the Mississipi would require many volumes), Jahoda nonetheless provides a rather exhaustive review of the removal of the "five civilized tribes" as well as a number of midwestern peoples. Jahoda notes the particular senselessness of 'removing' the eastern tribes, as many had already been integrated into the lifestyle of the American settlers (some even became major plantation owners, complete with slaves) and/or became devout Christians. What comes out here is that it was not a matter of dealing with 'savages' but racism, plain and simple. Needless to say, "Trail of Tears" is not only an illuminating history but also a rather instructive text.

This is an amazing book. Tireless research and the author's gift of vision and words produces a magnificently readable narrative of the American Indian Removals. Very balanced with no point of view overlooked. Many surprising appearances. And plenty of twists which will make you laugh outloud and break your heart. A very human book. An absolute must-read for anyone who wants to learn history as through the eyes and ears (and hearts) of those experiencing it. You won't be able to put it down.

I read this book right after Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. Together they tell the sad tale of how the original inhabitants of the US were moved from their original lands to make way for the US movement west. I enjoyed this book a little more than Bury My Heart, I felt like I got to know some of the characters a little better in this one. But both are worth reading for anyone interested in this sad chapter of US history.

A moving history of the Eastern Native Americans up to their removal to the West. Jahoda covers most of major tribes in the East. A history that should make any American ashamed and outraged. Jahoda's writing and story telling is excellent and moves one to tears.

This book tells the sad story of what happened to Native Americans (a case of genocide) in a very readable format. It is also very educational and should be mandatory for American History classes.

"Father--you know it's hard to be hungry, and if you do not know it we poor Indians know it... We did not think the Big Man would tell us things that was not true." --The Delaware Chiefs to the Indian Department

Horrific--sad times in U.S. history. Eloquent writing style, with beautiful observations of nature and the Indians exotic rituals. Powerful, moving, disheartening, and wretched tale of the American Indian extrication from the east to the west, with the insertion of eye witness reports. Extensive references and bibliography.

Gloria brings in some history of the early settlers. The Red Eagle incident was the catalyst, bringing in the gradual manipulation and removal of the native tribes. Because the Indians weren't united, the removal and relocation was made easier. The exile to their new lands were wrought with strife and death with little morose by the military. The white man's fire water reeked tremendous havoc. The false promises--deception; the warring among tribes contributed to the extermination.

The story of the Black Hawk war in Wisconsin is particularly interesting and heart wrenching. When I now hear the Indian names of Wisconsin it will be with somber reflection.

"They [white man] valued possessions and used people; Indians value people and used possessions." --Seminoles

Wish you well
Scott

"The Trail of Tears: The Story of The American Indian Removals, 1813-1855" is a painfully honest, detailed and unbiased reporting of events mostly omitted from school history textbooks and other mainstream sources.

Author, Gloria Jahoda combines inexhaustible research, bringing prominent figures in history to life, with beautiful and sometimes poetic writing to an important and educational book that reads like a fast-paced, succulent novel.

Unless one has extensive prior knowledge in this sordid chapter of American history already, it is guaranteed to provoke outrage. This holocaust is shocking, horrifying and sad in the re-telling and the fact that it is still seemingly swept under the rug by too many, even today.

"The Trail of Tears" is but hardly a beginning in the woes that actually besieged the true Natives of America, but Gloria Jahoda had done wonders in condensing 42 years of brutality, revolting attitudes and devious measures in swindling land and then "removing" the then eastern tribes of Native American Indians (Senecas, Delawares, Shawnees, Choctaws, Sacs, Creeks, Foxes, Cherokee, Chickasaws, Mandans, Potawatomis, Seminoles and Chippewas among others) to what was then considered an uninhabitable, foreign and barren desert land of the west by a government intent on merchandising and stripping ancestral homes, sacred grounds and lands, along with human rights while claiming justification in their systematic plans, blinded by greed.

There is mention of the notable ones with a conscious, not caught up in the misguided, ungodly and unjustly actions ("...the treaty is indeed a thing as illegal as possible...It seems to me that if the government has not decided to be completely unjust, they [the Indians] will be listened to....") but their numbers were too few and attempts to stop the evils remained futile.

The trail of tears, may now be covered up by the hardened roadways of America's forefathers, but it is rendered open and bared within the pages of "The Trail of Tears."

The ending paragraph of the book reads, "In the East, America had stolen the lands of her original discoverers and shipped those discoverers out like so many cattle. In the West, she permitted the extermination of their food in the new land. In the decade from 1840 to 1850 the country acquired approximately 20,000,000 acres from the Indians at a cost close to $3,000,000, roughly fifteen cents an acre. In exchange, the Indians had gotten 4,000,000 acres of land that was considered unfit for human life unless that life belonged to people with red skins. Every treaty left the Indian tribes of the nation poorer, while the nation itself grew richer as it moved inexorably toward the Civil War which would rend but not destroy it. The Trail of Tears had had its start where the sun rose. Finally, in the West of vast skies, thrusting grasses, painted sunsets, and dwindling buffalo, that trail became the road to Wounded Knee."

I consider this a "must read" type of book. Recommended for a continued education of our native people's plight: "How The West Was Lost" video series and the book, "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee: An Indian History of The American West" by Dee Alexander Brown. Also, "A Sorrow In Our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh" by Allan W. Eckert.

If there are only 2 books that you buy that relate to Native American history, they should be Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and THIS account of the Trail of Tears.

Two summers ago I decided to enter a t-shirt design for the Trail of Tears Commemorative Motorcycle Ride (which I won and I rode in). Before I could create a design for something so important, I decided that I should learn much more than I already knew about this HORRIBLE scar in our countries history.

As I talked to people, this book kept coming up, so I bought it. As soon as I opened it, I was pulled into the story- I couldn't put it down.

The title, while fitting, is a little misleading because the author doesn't just cover the journeys of the 5 nations that became known as the Trail of Tears - And that is definitely a great thing. The book begins well before the removal and covers many of the events that led up to it, thereby giving the reader a much better understanding of the how's and why's. It also covers the Cherokee political struggle in the US capital, trying to stop the removal from happening.

It's a sad story and has no happy ending, but it is something that everyone should read.

BTW- I'm not sure what "Eagles Soar" was reviewing...it didn't sound like it was this book though.

Being of Cherokee heritage, I was moved to tears as I again revisited the injustice that fell upon my ancestors. All American Native Indians are to be honored by the telling of the stories from generation to generation.

"Proud Cherokee"
~Marge Tindal~1999

The blood that courses through my veins
Runs true to the Cherokee.
I am the blood of my people.
I am Cherokee.

The trail that my forefathers walked,
Saturated in their tears,
The trail has become my trial
I listen with their ears.

I heard the wailing of the Cherokee
Proud of the salty tears,
I cry the tears of the Cherokee
Even after all these years.

I walk the trail that they cried,
I hear their voices frail,
I bear the blood of the Cherokee.
Damn this worthless trail.

Trail of tears of the Cherokee,
Long remembered in shame.
I cry out for the Cherokee.
I wear the Cherokee name.

Hear me loud and hear me clear,
No head hung in sorrow
For I am the proud Cherokee
Waiting for tomorrow.

I will regain what my forefathers lost.
I will stand and show my pride.
And all the spirits of the lost Cherokee
Will be standing at my side.

I am the proud Cherokee.
You'd do well to remember my name.
In the name of all Cherokee
My rights I do reclaim.

I am Cherokee<~~~~>

I am Cherokee<~~~~~>

I am Cherokee<~~~~~~>

Despite its title, this book does not tell the story of the Cherokees' Trail of Tears. Instead, as its subtitle suggests, Jahoda gives us the wider story of the many trails of tears. We hear of one tribe after another being removed from east of the Mississippi and moved to Kansas, Oklahoma, or similar points west. Each removal leads to sick, starving, and dying Indians, and profit-taking whites at both ends. There are whites who object, but they are never strong enough to stop the tide.

The villain of the piece is Andrew Jackson, both as Indian fighter and as president. If Dante were an American of the period, he certainly would have put Jackson into his innermost circle of Hell. It's harder to think of a greater war criminal in US history.

Jahoda's history aims for a more narrative style, almost like historical fiction. Lurking behind the lively narrative is thorough scholarship, however. This is a great introduction for anyone interested in this shameful chapter of our nation's history.