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Reviews tagging 'Death'
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indianhistory of the American West by Dee Brown
21 reviews
Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, Colonisation, War
This has been "who we are" from the moment this nation was birthed on a bed of greed, lies, and genocide, and we doubled down on it by collectively allowing that to be portrayed to children as heroism rather than the abject moral failure it is.
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Colonisation
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Rape, Kidnapping, Gaslighting
My heart can't even begin to cry enough for what Native peoples in this country have been subjected to because the hard truths have been buried or brushed over in our History books. Believe me when I say it's so much worse than just stolen land. Entire tribes wiped out. Buffalo hunted to the point of near extinction and left to rot. Culture (forcibly) taken because it wasn't viewed as "civilized." Basic necessities of life (food, clothing, shelter) withheld as a bargaining tool.
This book is definitely worth reading. It's on the banned book list (in Texas) for a reason.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Torture, Grief, Classism
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation
If you've taken an American History class past the age of, say, 15, you won't be surprised by the general shape of these stories. You're probably familiar with the name of Custer, and the general concept of reservations, and the near-annihilation of the American Buffalo. Frankly, that gloss of information does a disservice to one of the bloodiest chapters of American history, and I think it is very telling that the direct quotes in this from army officers (and reservation agents) were very clear about their desire to commit massacres in service of landgrabs.
Aside from the history, this is also a very well written book. Dee Brown's writing doesn't shy away from the gnarlier and gorier details, but he doesn't wallow in them. This never feels voyeuristic, and it very easily could have crossed that line. There's also an astonishing number of primary sources, which really helps ground everything in reality (some non fiction feels the need to invent conversations, everything in this is sources). While he doesn't touch on the continuing injustices following the massacre at wounded knee (systemic neglect, the horrendous abuses of the residential schools, for two very easy examples), the book is very clear about its focus on the Indian wars, and doesn't exceed its reach.
If you have the wherewithal to donate to indigenous causes, the Navajo Water Project is working to bring running water to the Navajo nation, over 30% of whom are without access to it. https://www.navajowaterproject.org/
Graphic: Confinement, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Colonisation, War
Moderate: Death, Gore, Xenophobia, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Deportation
Minor: Child death, Death, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail
I listened got he audiobook narrated by Grover Gardner, who has a fantastic storytelling voice and skills. The 40th anniversary edition of the book in hardcover also has many amazing illustrations and historical write-ups from outside contributors. I'm stunned by the beautiful illustrations and plan to read all the contributions of history to get a fuller picture of the events.
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Murder, Colonisation, War, Deportation
That being said, I feel like the way that Brown wrote about Native Americans felt othering at times, and even a bit gimmicky. I think it works against the thesis of the book.
(also–was not expecting the 3 nephites myth mention but it came in right at the end)
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Murder, Colonisation
Moderate: Animal death, Rape, War
Minor: Forced institutionalization
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Classism
Indigenous people went through so much trauma and suffering during this time, one could rightly argue that many descendants are still facing a measure of suffering. This does not sugarcoat or attempt humor any of the situations. Some quotes have a grim gallows humor quality to them however. This is not something one reads to feel good. This is something that should be read and taught frequently, because no one should allow this sort of thing to happen again or continue happening.
Graphic: Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Classism, Deportation
I can't name a movie (other than the one made after this book, which I found only after I finished the book) that focuses exclusively on the experiences of the Native Americans. Every cowboy movie I've seen, the Native Americans are always a background nuisance; savages that will kill any white man they see. Brown gives you a much clearer picture of what happened, and why they behaved the way they did, often copying the atrocities committed against them by white soldiers, but that is, of course, wiped out in the white men's narrative. He shares how the whites created false narratives in order to gain support so that they could continue stealing land and sending the Native Americans to reservations.
This book is a good introduction to the main tribes and most notable chiefs during the period of 1860-1890, and what each tribe experienced. I found the book hard to read at times because there is a lot of information and names; quite a lot of names seemed thrown in and I felt like I was expected to know them from the get go, but over time, I got used to how Brown had laid out the chapters - each chapter is essentially a new tribe/massacre/fight and you have to accept that you might not remember all of the white army men's names and their positions, and that's okay because this is definitely a book to come back to, not least because of the many real photographs of the Chiefs and other notable Native Americans. It really helped to bring a face to the people you're reading about; a reminder that you're not reading fiction, but the lives of real people. I read this through my library but I'm tempted to buy my own copy in the future to look back on.
This book has encouraged me to learn even more about the true history of what these incredible people endured, and still endure. It blew me away when I learned that there are still Native American reservations and they experience horrendous poverty. What kind of a world do we live in? I hope for the day when the US government finally put their egos aside, accept their wrongdoings and give back to the Native Americans so that they can lead good lives in their own country. It took until 1978 for Native Americans just to be allowed to practice harmless ceremonies in public! I now see Mount Rushmore as nothing but a huge insult to Native Americans; calving 4 white men into their sacred mountains that they fought so hard to protect. I only recently learned that Native Americans were holding protests against it.
I hope that all of the Native American tribes still around today can continue to share their history, revel in their culture and be unapologetically proud of their heritage.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Fire/Fire injury