Voices of Wounded Knee [Hardcover]

William S. E. Coleman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2000

In Voices of Wounded Knee, William S. E. Coleman brings together for the first time all the available sources-Lakota, military, and civilian-on the massacre of 29 December 1890. He recreates the Ghost Dance in detail and shows how it related to the events leading up to the massacre. Using accounts of participants and observers, Coleman reconstructs the massacre moment by moment. He places contradictory accounts in direct juxtaposition, allowing the reader to decide who was telling the truth.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

While much has been written about Wounded Knee and what happened there, this is the first account in which the participants have been allowed to tell the story almost entirely in their own words. While Coleman (theater, Drake Univ.) was seeking information on Buffalo Bill Cody, a chance meeting with Benjamin Black Elk set him on the trail of firsthand accounts of the events that led up to the Wounded Knee Massacre of December 29, 1890. He has welded these accounts (of the two-week Ghost Dance and the climactic attack by the Seventh Cavalry) into a riveting narrative that tells how the massacre emerged out of a long string of broken treaties, cultural mistrust, governmental rivalries, and inflammatory press reports. Rather than presenting a series of documents, he selects only the relevant parts of each, setting differing accounts of the same event in juxtaposition to each other, with a minimal connecting narrative to keep the chronological selections in context. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries.DStephen H. Peters, Northern Michigan Univ. Lib., Marquette
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"This book's high value is in its completeness. Coleman has assembled a multitude of sources, with explanatory comments. The book is a requisite for students of the tragedy and the Indian Wars period."--Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. "The material is exactly what is called for--a chance for the Indians to speak about their past and the events that surrounded Wounded Knee. This is an important book."--Troy Johnson, coeditor of Red Power: The American Indians' Fight for Freedom. "Devoted research results in a remarkable book."--Kevin Brownlow, film historian. "This is one of the most informative books written about the unfortunate circumstances leading to the 1890 debacle at wounded Knee. Twenty-five years in the making, it provides insights into the Ghost Dance phenomenon with its visions and beliefs in the Messiah's arrival ... Two riveting chapters contain actual observations of the massacre followed by transcripts of hearings and investigations."--Choice

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 446 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press; First Edition edition (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803215061
• ISBN-13: 978-0803215061
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,516,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A National Crime Re-Examined - Voices from the Past Speak, September 9, 2001

By 

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

This review is from: Voices of Wounded Knee (Hardcover)

I thoroughly appreciated Coleman's technique of piecing actual historical record (interviews & letters) with a minimal of commentary - While hardly a dry presentation, Coleman's technique recreates the atmosphere of the time, and made me feel like I was "living" the events of the time as if I was recieving real-time press reports and actually listening to interviews of the participants. Coleman also reminds the reader of the importance of studying "unfiltered" historical material - His organization of such material into a comprehensive chronolgy is what makes this book truly unique.
From a historical perspective - the book is also a must-read and should be REQUIRED READING in ALL US HISTORY COURSES. As usuall, our national crimes and shame in mistreating the American Indians - particulary the Lakotas - continues to be white-washed. Reading actual writings from many of the key individuals of the time (Red Cloud, McLaughlin, Short Bull, Nelson Miles, Sherman, and various newspaper editorials) provides a shocking view of America's virulent racism, the press's penchant for creating panic and militaristic feeling, political greed and ambition, Indian despiration and hoplessness. If reparations are due anyone - its these people.

5.0 out of 5 stars The true voice of our darkest history, August 8, 2008

By 

Jeffrey C. Gusfield "writer" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Voices of Wounded Knee (Paperback)

William S.E. Coleman, who is one of America's best writers to begin with, has created the definitive history of the tragedy at Wounded Knee. The consummate western researcher, Doctor Coleman has been one of the foremost experts on William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody for several decades. His knowledge and fascination with the bridging of the wild west into the theater of the 20th century has led him on this profound, oral excavation of the events that signaled the final betrayal of the American Indian and particularly the Sioux culture. This mesmerizing project presents the actual words of the principal witnesses to the massacre of non-combatant men, women and children near Wounded Knee Creek in 1890. There has never been a truer or more accurate accounting of the events that formed the Messianic, Ghost Dance rituals of the Oglala and Lakota Sioux, which were ultimately misinterpreted by the Eurocentric, white settlers and military. Beginning with the reminiscence of Ben Black Elk in a hypnotic, 1971 interview, Coleman uses the written transcripts of the participants, observers, government employees and the Indians themselves to describe the shattered treaties, subcultural prejudices and provocative press accounts that spawned the genocide. His resources are varied and composed alongside each other in an unusually egalitarian mixture, allowing the reader to judge complicity and culpability without bias. Voices is the ultimate deconstruction of an extremely confusing and dangerous time in the United States as the home, lifestyle and spiritual essence of the first Americans all but evaporate with the final settling of the frontier. 118 years seem to vanish as the very words of those involved allow us an intimate and authentically immediate recounting unlike any ever offered. It is a masterpiece of human understanding and one of the most exciting histories I've ever read.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Voices of Wounded Knee, January 14, 2001

By 

Carol Blake (Eagle Rock , MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Voices of Wounded Knee (Hardcover)

A very informative, well written book. It shows the injustice that the "white man" did to the Native Ameican. It is a Must Read for all. Am glad that the author had first hand information from someone that was there at the time.