ipomoea 's review for:

Oh What a Slaughter: Massacres in the American West: 1846--1890 by Larry McMurtry

3.0

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This had interesting subjects, but felt more like a one-off project than one deeply researched and considered. McMurtry's voice and personal experiences slipped through the narrative quite a bit, which was distracting. It would have been better if it had firmly gone in one of two directions: his personal journeys to the sites of the massacres while discussing their history (a la Sarah Vowell) or a strictly historical discussion, with more in-depth information. Either way, after reading it, it's hard to deny that white Americans have prospered from the genocide, massacres, and abuses perpetrated against Indians.