Summary Of Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee

In Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown presents the Indian point of view of the conflict caused by westward American settlement during the late nineteenth century. The book is meant to be a counterpoint to the historical portrayal of Native Americans as warmongering savages. It also depicts the American government and citizens not as heroic practitioners of Manifest Destiny, but selfish oathbreakers who were willing to take by force what wasn’t theirs. Brown’s writing illustrates how history is indeed written by the victor by telling the past through the eyes of a defeated people. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee also emphasizes the prejudice felt during the late 1800s against non-whites and which continues to be a problem in contemporary

While the lust for gold and land is understandable, he also explains the effect of political maneuverings. For instance, Governor Evans of Colorado was inclined to incite war with the Cheyenne and Arapaho because settlers “wanted to avoid the military draft of 1864 by serving against a few poorly armed Indians rather than against the Confederates farther east” (79). Regional politics increasingly came into play as the government back east was more focused on preserving the union. This can also be seen in Lincoln’s disagreement with Minnesota’s sentencing of 303 Santees to be hanged. Another competing government faction Brown points out is “the so-called Indian Ring” which took advantage of the Indian Bureau (188). Consisting of political higher-ups, as well as Indian agents, who profited off of goods meant for the Indians, the Indian Ring helped remove Donehogawa from his position as Commissioner of Indian Affairs. In doing so, the Indians lost an ally in the government who understood their views and treated them fairly. Yet another interest group Brown refers to as pressing for the relocation of natives is the Big Horn Association. The group consisted of miners, a trade who Brown suggests were behind anti-Indian efforts in many parts of the west. In fact, miners even convinced the government to drive the

However, a few structural changes could benefit readers. Brown introduces the various Indian tribes and their ranges on pages nine through twelve, yet includes no maps. Pictures of various figures are included throughout, but there are no maps to accompany the movements of Native American groups as white settlers encroach. Diagrams would visually express the dramatic reduction of land available to the Native Americans which readers unacquainted with the landscape cannot mentally picture. Additionally, it was unnecessary for Brown to introduce some of the Indian chiefs as youths on the aforementioned pages. It does not benefit the reader to hear that at the beginning of the Civil War Crazy Horse was “too young to be a warrior” (10). Several of these characters do not play major roles until the middle or end of the book, so it is confusing to introduce a mass of characters the reader does not know or care about. These descriptions detract from the flow of the book as they are tangential. Brown could simply skip these introductions as he repeats them later on as he focuses on particular tribes. Despite these minor flaws, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is a moving and eye-opening work that is worth the read and the