Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee

946 Words4 Pages
In Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West, New York Times bestselling author, Dee Brown, remarkably details how the American Indians lost their land and people to a vigorously expanding white society. This extraordinary book significantly changed the way Americans view Native Americans, as well as the westward advancement by pioneers. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is for anyone interested in a detailed account of the destruction of a people such as the Native Americans, and for anyone who is able to bear its grisliness (no pun intended). Brown does an outstanding job of providing ample detail from an American Indian point of view—a technique he utilizes to show readers how the Indians reacted to American expansion. Brown allows great chiefs and warriors of several tribes to tell the readers in their own words of the brutal struggles and misfortunes that left them disheartened and ultimately conquered. In a time when the term “Manifest Destiny” was used to designate the belief that America was destined to expand across North America, many people did not acknowledge the Indian struggles. Apart from making sure the book forces readers to become aware of the harsh…show more content…
Brown has achieved a degree in history at the University of Central Arkansas, and according to the “About the Author” section in the back of the book, he has written more than twenty-five books about the American West and the Civil War. It is also mentioned that he was a librarian for many years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, so it can only be assumed that Brown is well-read and very familiar with the subject of the novel. However, although Brown is a credible author, he (obviously) displays some bias toward the Native Americans. This is understandable, as the Indians were badly oppressed during that time period, which Brown passionately divulges throughout the
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