A review by bringlaurasnacks
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

This took me a long time to read because it was so infuriating and heartbreaking that I could only stomach short bursts at a time. It reads like a lot of short stories rolled into one. You learn about the history of a tribe. A little detail of the rich natural landscape they inhabit. Get emotionally invested in their people and leaders. Inevitably the U.S. army or Indian agency decimates them in a supremely unfair and horrific way. Over and over again. Almost no one responsible ever seems to get their comeuppance.

Such is America.

This book should be required reading for every American. The true and shameful history of how America was stolen through genocide, betrayal and broken promises. The hardest thing about this book was that it’s over 50 years old. The content is still not widely known by the American public the way many other genocides are. Despite us walking on the very land where it happened. It’s a tough read, but probably one of the most important books I’ve read in my life.