September/October 2003  Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. A history of the Western United States in the last half of the 19th Century told, in many places, through accounts given by American Indians. This is a book that's been described as brilliant, extraordinary, shocking, powerful and painful by a wide spectrum of reviewers. It has sold over 4 million copies and has been translated into 17 languages. I only have two complaints about this book. First, Brown tends to dump the reader into situations that have come to a boiling point without providing any historical background to explain how it came to be. Second, there were not enough maps. So, what follows below are some helpful links to background on some of the chapters, and maps I made as I read through the book so that I could better visualize the places and events in the book.
Chapter 2 "The Long Walk of the Navahos" [MAP]
Chapter 3 "Little Crow's War" [MAP] I got a lot of useful information about the events leading up to this chapter's history from The Treaty Story on the website of the Minnesota Historical Society.
Chapter4  "War Comes to the Cheyennes" and Chapter 7 "The Only Good Indian is a Dead Indian" [MAP]
Chapter 5 "The Powder River Invasion" and Chapter 6 "Red Cloud's War" [MAP]
Chapter 11 "The War to Save the Buffalo" [MAP]
Chapter 12. "The War for the Black Hills" The best maps to help understand this chapter are found in the history links at the website for the Little Big Horn Battle National Monument. Go to Plan Your Visit, then Maps.
Chapter 13. "The Flight of the Nez Perces" There is a great map at the website for the Nez Perce National Historical Park. Go to Plan Your Visit, then Maps. Another good source of background to this chapter is at the website for the Big Hole National Battlefield.There's a battlefield map at Plan Your Visit, then Maps.
Chapter 15. "Standing Bear Becomes a Person" [MAP] This was my favorite chapter. See this link to Judge Dundy's writ of habeas corpus which is mentioned in Chapter 15.
Chapter 18 "Dance of the Ghosts" and Chapter 19 "Wounded Knee" [MAP] Also see The Great Sioux Nation exhibit at The History Channel website.
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