On the Trail to Wounded Knee: The Big Foot Memorial Ride [Hardcover]

Guy Le Querrec (Author), Jim Harrison (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2002

A moving photographic essay documenting the Lakota Sioux's retracing of their doomed ancestors' trail to Wounded Knee.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The finest and truest photos I have ever seen of American Indians."
-from the introduction by Jim Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall

"This big, beautiful book with its memorable photographs leaves the American reader with a guilt feeling."-- The Independent Record (Helena, MT)

From the Back Cover

In 1890, after the assassination of Sitting Bull, his friend, Chief Big Foot-denounced as an agitator by the government-decided to seek refuge with another Sioux chief, Red Cloud. Big Foot, seventy years old and suffering from pneumonia, gathered his tribe of mostly women, children, and the elderly, and set out for the long journey that would take them to Pine Ridge. Just twenty miles short of their destination, federal soldiers captured Big Foot and his followers, imprisoning them at Wounded Knee. The next day, December 29, the 7th Cavalry exterminated every man, woman, and child. More than 180 Sioux died there that day.In 1986, to honor what remains the symbol of the Indian genocide, members of the Sioux nation vowed to follow the trail of their ancestors. On their last journey in 1990, the 100th anniversary of the massacre, photographer Guy Le Querrec followed the trail with them. During a December of the bitterest weather possible, with temperatures below zero for days on end, Le Querrec shot these gritty, yet compelling images of the Lakota Sioux horsemen. In the words of Jim Harrison, Le Querrec has "the splendid but ruthless eye of the tragedian." On the Trail to Wounded Knee is both a tribute to the massacred Lakota Sioux peoples and a cry for justice, and as Harrison observes, "these photographs will light a fire in your spirit, a fire which will last forever, if you are a human being worthy of this name." (10 1/2 x 13 1/4, 128 pages, b&w photos)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (August 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585745332
• ISBN-13: 978-1585745333
• Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 10.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,866,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving, visual testimony of the long forced march, October 7, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On the Trail to Wounded Knee: The Big Foot Memorial Ride (Hardcover)

Guy Le Querrec's On The Trail To Wounded Knee: The Big Foot Memorial Ride is an impressive photographic memorial of one of the most brutal and tragic massacres of Native Americans in recorded American history. In 1990, the one hundredth anniversary of the long journey and eventual slaughter of Chief Big Foot and most of his tribe, members of the Sioux nation retraced the journey in honor of those who suffered and died. Photographer Guy Le Querrec followed the trail with them, and captured these powerful black-and-white images. Vignettes and quotes from history are interspersed with this moving, visual testimony of the long forced march that has since become a symbol of American genocide.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Power Photographs and Message -- Introduction Troubling, December 31, 2004

By 

Andrew Freborg (Stow, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On the Trail to Wounded Knee: The Big Foot Memorial Ride (Hardcover)

BEWARE THE INTRODUCTION
I'm very torn on this review, as the criminal tragedy at Wounded Knee does indeed require national awareness and attonement. Photographer LeQuerrec has compiled an exceedingly moving testimony to the tragedy, with images that speak more eloquently than any words. Since I was 13 and began my own journey learning of the shameful acts against the native peoples during this county's rapid expansion - I've felt obligated to know and do whatever part I could take in attonement.

That said - the introduction to the book by Jim Harrison took me aback. While emotionally trying to make the point that most of mainstream America is relatively ignorant of the negative aspects of its past (true), and by the nature of our capitalist society there is an often obscene gap between wealth and poverty in this country (true), Harrison somehow shifts from a call to responsibility to a screed against the US in general. We have our faults, and have done evil things as a people -- but artifically transfering this to modern US foreign policy (as Harrison does - lamenting US treatment of China and Cuba) in my opinion denegrates the message of Wounded Knee. Mao-ist China and Castro Cuba are not the same thing as 19th century continental expansion and colonialism, and to draw China and Cuba into the discussion (as Harrison does in the introduction) merely shows some sense of warped idealistic views of Marxist societies. My family suffered 40 years under marxist rule in the DDR - so I have an obvious differing view from the author on the "idyllic" nature of communist countries. Also, the five letter description Harrison uses in the introduction to describe the Statue of Liberty (shock value?) is over the top and beneath what this book and its message should be about.

In fairness, Harrison's quote from Bertold Brecht "whom you would destroy, you first portray as savage" is an excellent point in introducing Wounded Knee and its place in our history. Maybe I wasn't expecting to be hit quite so hard. I'm torn with wanting to rip the intro out of the book -- or keep reading it as a needed "kick."