The Earth Is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West by Cozzens, Peter Format: Trade PaperbackPublished by Vintage, 2017 A magisterial, essential history of the struggle between whites and Native Americans over the fate of the West. Here is the fullest account to date of how the West was won--and lost--giving us both sides in comprehensive and singularly intimate detail of the wars and negotiations that destroyed tribal ways of life even as they made possible the emergence of the modern United States. Cozzens illuminates the encroachment experienced by the tribes and the tribal conflicts over whether to fight or make peace, and explores the squalid lives of soldiers posted to the frontier and the ethical quandaries faced by generals who often sympathized with their native enemies. As the action moves from Kansas and Nebraska to the Southwestern desert to the Dakotas and the Pacific Northwest, we encounter a pageant of fascinating characters including Custer, Sherman, Grant, and a host of other military and political figures, as well as great native leaders such as Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Geronimo, and Red Cloud.
