Dr. Birzer,
Thanks for answering my questions on the Q&A session a couple weeks ago.
I do have some follow up questions though. Regarding the book Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown, I had suspected the author of having an agenda, but wasn’t sure. The book was interesting, but I ended the book with more questions than I did when I started.
Although the book follows the story of multiple tribes. Did he cherry pick the worst of what happened to the American Indian population, or were these tribes a representation of what was generally happening to nearly all the tribes in America?
Did he downplay the wrongdoing of the Indians and over emphasize and exaggerate the wrongdoings of the government?
Are there any other books (or even articles) that you would recommend that give a better balanced analysis of 19th century American Indian history? While I enjoyed reading Dee Brown’s book, I want to be careful that I don’t formulate an exhaustive opinion regarding historic events based on one author’s interpretation and opinion.
Since the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks last weekend, I have seen memes on social media saying something about never forgetting 9/11, but forgetting that 90% of the Indian population was wiped out, and 100 million were murdered. I’m skeptical of those numbers, but I have no idea. What is your take on that?
Thanks,
Andrew
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