Red Cloud: A Lakota Story of War and Surrender by S.D. Nelson

Indian history always fascinates me.  It's sad, it's a clash of cultures, and differences still exist today.  But it's American History and I hope we can learn from it.

Abrams Young Reader's sent me a copy of this book to read for review (thank you).  It will be published tomorrow.

This book has the look of a journal and includes photographs and paintings.  It's a story of people fighting for their land and their way of life.  It's also full of soldiers who think they are less than human and consider them savages.  The Indians did get nasty as the war kept going on.  They had the mistaken impression that by scalping the men and breaking their arms and legs so their spirits wouldn't wander would put off the soldiers.  It just made the soldiers meaner.

Even when the Indians' surrendered, the promises the white men gave them were broken.  Often they didn't have enough food, they got white men's diseases, and they got introduced to whiskey which by itself killed a lot of Indians.

Red Cloud planned his fights well, had lots of victories but he could also read the writing on the wall.  No matter how many soldiers they killed, more came to replace them.  The white swarm was moving across North America and no one could stop it.  The only way to live was peacefully.  At least as peacefully as you could get at that time.

Here's a look back at the past for young readers.  The quotations in the book are haunting.  Even today, cultures clash.  Let's work on peace.