Wounded KneeWounded Knee
Party Politics and the Road to An American Massacre
Title rated 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 11 ratings(11 ratings)
Book, 2010
Current format, Book, 2010, , Available .Book, 2010
Current format, Book, 2010, , Available . Offered in 0 more formatsArgues that fierce partisanship, heated political rhetoric and an irresponsible, profit-driven media were ultimately responsible for the massacre of 300 Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee. By the author of The Greatest Nation of the Earth.
Argues the fierce partisanship, heated political rhetoric, and an irresponsible, profit-driven media were responsible for the massacre of three hundred Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee.
"In Wounded Knee, Heather Cox Richardson continues her path-breaking work in bringing the American West into its rightful place in the remaking of the nation during and after the Civil War. Here she portrays one of the most infamous events of its time as a consequence of politics, both in its seediest maneuverings and its more ennobling impulses. The story is tragic, the scholarship exhilarating, and the book is a must read for anyone drawn to this troubling and fascinating time."---Elliott West, Alumni Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Arkansas, and author of The Contested Plains and The Last Indian War
"This poignant, professional history appears almost thirty years after Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, but could not be more timely as Americans face anew the human cost of their polarized politics, media spin, greed, hustling, pretense, and inept paternalism toward subject peoples. Richardson's research reveals that even an Indian massacre is far more than a simple matter of racism."---Walter A. McDougall, Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, Pulitzer Prize winner for The Heavens and the Earth, and author of Throes of Democracy: The American Civil War"
A gifted historian with a talent for narrative, Heather Cox Richardson uses her skills here to show that the killings at Wounded Knee might have happened at the edge of America, but they happened because of conflicts at the center of the nation's capital and the heart of the political struggles of the nineteenth century. A terrific book."---Eric Rauchway, Professor of History at the University of California, Davis, and author of Blessed Among Nations and Murdering McKinley
"Beyond grace and intelligence, what makes this book so important is that it demonstrates how one of the most tragic moments in all of American history is best understood not only as a spasm of genocidal violence but as something emerging from the everyday processes of politics and culture in the late nineteenth century. It is precisely that mixture of the banal and the horrific that makes this book compelling, significant, and deeply troubling." ---William Deverell, Director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West
On December 29, 1890, American troops massed around hundreds of Lakota Sioux men, women, and children near Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. Outnumbered and demoralized, the Sioux posed no threat to the soldiers---but in a chaotic scene, the soldiers opened fire, killing nearly 300 Sioux in what would become known as the Wounded Knee Massacre. As acclaimed historian Heather Cox Richardson shows, the massacre grew out of a set of political forces all too familiar to us today: fierce partisanship, heated political rhetoric, and an irresponsible, profit-driven media.
Richardson traces the story back to the struggles of a country divided between rich and poor, East and West, Republicans and Democrats. In the desperate midterm election battle of 1890, lawmakers in Washington set the stage for mass murder by exploiting an age-old political tool---fear. Democrats accused Republicans of dangerously mismanaging the Indian reservations, starving the Sioux for political gain. Republicans countered that the Indians were well cared for, but their savage barbarism made them a danger to white settlers. Tensions---among politicians determined to win an election, army officers ordered to prevent a nonexistent "uprising," and starving Indians forced into an alien economy---erupted in gunfire on December 29.
Wounded Knee asks an obvious question. Why were soldiers in South Dakota in the first place, when there had been no lives lost and no property taken in the alleged Sioux uprising? The answers are ingrained in the American political system itself, and Wounded Knee's lessons stretch into the present. This compelling narrative offers the definitive account of a quintessential American tragedy.
Richardson (History, University of Massachusetts-Amherst) takes a new look at the tragic 1890 massacre of Lakota Sioux by U.S. soldiers at Wounded Knee. Posing the question of why President Harrison sent the army to South Dakota to put down an "uprising" that threatened neither person nor property, the author argues that politics in the bitterly divided United States were the real reason for the presence of so many soldiers. Telling a story in which extremist rhetoric and yellow journalism were used to whip up fear of an Indian rising, all as cover for partisan political maneuvering aimed at ensuring that Republicans won the 1890 midterm elections and, hopefully, re-elected President Harrison in 1892. Groundbreaking in its scope, this exceedingly interesting and well-written book is an important contribution to scholarship on Native American history and this history of the late-19th century U.S. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
An acclaimed historian uncovers the story behind the massacre at Wounded Knee, demonstrating how party politics in Washington, D.C. made the South Dakota catastrophe inevitable
On December 29, 1890, American troops opened fire with howitzers on hundreds of unarmed Lakota Sioux men, women, and children near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota, killing nearly 300 Sioux. As acclaimed historian Heather Cox Richardson shows in Wounded Knee, the massacre grew out of a set of political forces all too familiar to us today: fierce partisanship, heated political rhetoric, and an irresponsible, profit-driven media.
Argues the fierce partisanship, heated political rhetoric, and an irresponsible, profit-driven media were responsible for the massacre of three hundred Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee.
"In Wounded Knee, Heather Cox Richardson continues her path-breaking work in bringing the American West into its rightful place in the remaking of the nation during and after the Civil War. Here she portrays one of the most infamous events of its time as a consequence of politics, both in its seediest maneuverings and its more ennobling impulses. The story is tragic, the scholarship exhilarating, and the book is a must read for anyone drawn to this troubling and fascinating time."---Elliott West, Alumni Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Arkansas, and author of The Contested Plains and The Last Indian War
"This poignant, professional history appears almost thirty years after Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, but could not be more timely as Americans face anew the human cost of their polarized politics, media spin, greed, hustling, pretense, and inept paternalism toward subject peoples. Richardson's research reveals that even an Indian massacre is far more than a simple matter of racism."---Walter A. McDougall, Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, Pulitzer Prize winner for The Heavens and the Earth, and author of Throes of Democracy: The American Civil War"
A gifted historian with a talent for narrative, Heather Cox Richardson uses her skills here to show that the killings at Wounded Knee might have happened at the edge of America, but they happened because of conflicts at the center of the nation's capital and the heart of the political struggles of the nineteenth century. A terrific book."---Eric Rauchway, Professor of History at the University of California, Davis, and author of Blessed Among Nations and Murdering McKinley
"Beyond grace and intelligence, what makes this book so important is that it demonstrates how one of the most tragic moments in all of American history is best understood not only as a spasm of genocidal violence but as something emerging from the everyday processes of politics and culture in the late nineteenth century. It is precisely that mixture of the banal and the horrific that makes this book compelling, significant, and deeply troubling." ---William Deverell, Director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West
On December 29, 1890, American troops massed around hundreds of Lakota Sioux men, women, and children near Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. Outnumbered and demoralized, the Sioux posed no threat to the soldiers---but in a chaotic scene, the soldiers opened fire, killing nearly 300 Sioux in what would become known as the Wounded Knee Massacre. As acclaimed historian Heather Cox Richardson shows, the massacre grew out of a set of political forces all too familiar to us today: fierce partisanship, heated political rhetoric, and an irresponsible, profit-driven media.
Richardson traces the story back to the struggles of a country divided between rich and poor, East and West, Republicans and Democrats. In the desperate midterm election battle of 1890, lawmakers in Washington set the stage for mass murder by exploiting an age-old political tool---fear. Democrats accused Republicans of dangerously mismanaging the Indian reservations, starving the Sioux for political gain. Republicans countered that the Indians were well cared for, but their savage barbarism made them a danger to white settlers. Tensions---among politicians determined to win an election, army officers ordered to prevent a nonexistent "uprising," and starving Indians forced into an alien economy---erupted in gunfire on December 29.
Wounded Knee asks an obvious question. Why were soldiers in South Dakota in the first place, when there had been no lives lost and no property taken in the alleged Sioux uprising? The answers are ingrained in the American political system itself, and Wounded Knee's lessons stretch into the present. This compelling narrative offers the definitive account of a quintessential American tragedy.
Richardson (History, University of Massachusetts-Amherst) takes a new look at the tragic 1890 massacre of Lakota Sioux by U.S. soldiers at Wounded Knee. Posing the question of why President Harrison sent the army to South Dakota to put down an "uprising" that threatened neither person nor property, the author argues that politics in the bitterly divided United States were the real reason for the presence of so many soldiers. Telling a story in which extremist rhetoric and yellow journalism were used to whip up fear of an Indian rising, all as cover for partisan political maneuvering aimed at ensuring that Republicans won the 1890 midterm elections and, hopefully, re-elected President Harrison in 1892. Groundbreaking in its scope, this exceedingly interesting and well-written book is an important contribution to scholarship on Native American history and this history of the late-19th century U.S. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
An acclaimed historian uncovers the story behind the massacre at Wounded Knee, demonstrating how party politics in Washington, D.C. made the South Dakota catastrophe inevitable
On December 29, 1890, American troops opened fire with howitzers on hundreds of unarmed Lakota Sioux men, women, and children near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota, killing nearly 300 Sioux. As acclaimed historian Heather Cox Richardson shows in Wounded Knee, the massacre grew out of a set of political forces all too familiar to us today: fierce partisanship, heated political rhetoric, and an irresponsible, profit-driven media.
Richardson tells a dramatically new story about the Wounded Knee massacre, revealing that its origins lay not in the West but in the corridors of political power back East. Politicians in Washington, Democrat and Republican alike, sought to set the stage for mass murder by exploiting an age-old political tool?fear.
Assiduously researched and beautifully written, Wounded Knee will be the definitive account of an epochal American tragedy.
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