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jeffburns's review against another edition
4.0
Creek Mary's Blood. Dee Brown. Henry Holt & Company, 1980. 401 pages.
Students of Georgia history learn the story of Mary Musgrove, a Creek Indian woman who was an important part of Georgia's founding. She served as an interpreter and intermediary between the local Creeks and Georgia's first colonists. Lovers of history, and western history in particular, recognize the name Dee Brown as one of the leading historians and writers specializing in America's western history, the author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a landmark re-interpretation. Published in 1970, Bury was at the forefront of the movement to end the romanticization of the Old West and Indian Wars to tell the real history of white-indigenous relations.
In 1980, Brown published Creek Mary's Blood, a highly fictionalized story obviously inspired by Mary Musgrove. It's also very reminiscent of the great 1964 novel Little Big Man because it's a sprawling, multi-generational novel that covers a long period of time in the lives of the main characters as their lives intersect with real historical figures, from James Oglethorpe (the founder of Georgia) to Theodore Roosevelt. In fact, I could easily see this novel as a movie like "Little Big Man" or a 1980s tv miniseries like "Centennial."
The story of Creek Mary and her progeny is told in the novel by Dane, her 91-year old grandson, speaking to a journalist in 1905. He recounts Mary's life in Georgia, the Trail of Tears and the violent division within the Cherokee tribe that resulted, his move west to live among the Cheyenne, and his children's and grandchildren's involvement in the Civil War, the Battle of Little Bighorn, and the Wounded Knee Massacre. It's an epic story of five generations of a family that covers two centuries and serves as a crash course in Native American history. The novel may stretch credulity here and there, and a few elements make it a little awkward in terms of fiction quality, but it's entertaining.
#histocratsbookshelf #histocratsbotd #bookstagram #shelved #deebrown #creekmarysblood #historicalfiction #oldest #indianwars #nativeamericanhistory #trailoftears
Students of Georgia history learn the story of Mary Musgrove, a Creek Indian woman who was an important part of Georgia's founding. She served as an interpreter and intermediary between the local Creeks and Georgia's first colonists. Lovers of history, and western history in particular, recognize the name Dee Brown as one of the leading historians and writers specializing in America's western history, the author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a landmark re-interpretation. Published in 1970, Bury was at the forefront of the movement to end the romanticization of the Old West and Indian Wars to tell the real history of white-indigenous relations.
In 1980, Brown published Creek Mary's Blood, a highly fictionalized story obviously inspired by Mary Musgrove. It's also very reminiscent of the great 1964 novel Little Big Man because it's a sprawling, multi-generational novel that covers a long period of time in the lives of the main characters as their lives intersect with real historical figures, from James Oglethorpe (the founder of Georgia) to Theodore Roosevelt. In fact, I could easily see this novel as a movie like "Little Big Man" or a 1980s tv miniseries like "Centennial."
The story of Creek Mary and her progeny is told in the novel by Dane, her 91-year old grandson, speaking to a journalist in 1905. He recounts Mary's life in Georgia, the Trail of Tears and the violent division within the Cherokee tribe that resulted, his move west to live among the Cheyenne, and his children's and grandchildren's involvement in the Civil War, the Battle of Little Bighorn, and the Wounded Knee Massacre. It's an epic story of five generations of a family that covers two centuries and serves as a crash course in Native American history. The novel may stretch credulity here and there, and a few elements make it a little awkward in terms of fiction quality, but it's entertaining.
#histocratsbookshelf #histocratsbotd #bookstagram #shelved #deebrown #creekmarysblood #historicalfiction #oldest #indianwars #nativeamericanhistory #trailoftears
alex_wordweaver's review against another edition
5.0
Great story. Also the best excuse to listen to the Nightwish song of the same name.
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