The Wild Frontier : Atrocities During the American-Indian War from Jamestown Colony to Wounded Knee

Rating:
Summary: Telling it like it was
Review: This book does what has needed to be done by presenting in stark terms the savagery of the American Indian Wars. It is gory reading much of the time, but I disagree with a previous reviewer in that I think Mr. Osborn knows exactly where he is taking his reader. His final chapters are a sound capstone to his cataloguing of the tremendous and horrendous atrocities that occurred. His theme basically deconstructs the nowadays familiar political tactic of "make whitey feel guilty". His book is a reminder that Indians committed many many horrible atrocities against innocent settlers, probably far in excess of those directly committed against the Indian. Sand Creek, the Trail of Tears, and Wounded Knee get all the attention of revisionist historians with present day agendas. These tragic incidents are dwarfed by the unspeakable atrocities endured by thousands of white settlers detailed here. This book will be disregarded by those inclined to political correctness, but as Mr. Osborn quotes of Abraham Lincoln: "History is not history unless it is the truth."