Scalp dance book told through the views of conquerers


Cougar Face
    There are many anti-Indian books out there that emphasize the violent nature of native Americans in propaganda straight out of the past two centuries. Thomas Goodrich has written a book called " Scalp Dance' and you know any book written with this title is not going to be written with a pro-native slope and this book definitely looks at the wars and violence as an Indian problem. it covers some of the epoch battles on the Western plains. Scalp Dance looks at the increased White resource extraction migration that was part of this time period following the Civil War to the taming of the last of the wild tribes in 1879.  The chapter a fate worse than death over illustrates the plight of White female captivity which was both rare and infrequent yet worthy of publishing  in many books to describe Native Americans. Somehow Goodrich false to explain the reasoning and rationale of Indians in their economic needs in capturing women like Fran Kelly and then ransoming them off. The many winter campaigns meant to starve the Comanche, Arapahoe, Kiowa, and Cheyenne into reservations into a life of dependency on their enemies who kept stealing their lands is detailed in this book leading up to the infamous Custer's last stand. Goodrich points out as these new migrants into the West changed their perception of the red man from earlier notions of the noble native of Indians out East. The Western Indians had traversed travel which made a more warlike culture as raiding became a pastime of tribes fighting other tribes.this book retells the story of the plains Indian wars through the eyes and lies of many white soldiers who served in this time period and basically the whole book is just quotes from soldiers who conquered the independence of the Western tribes. The many interesting battles though makes this an interesting read even if one through the perspectives of one party and this book is full of information on the Western wars for America.

No comments:

Post a Comment