Great Documents in American Indian History

This remarkable collection of nearly one hundred primary documents presents a mosaic of individual Indian voices that span the vastness of their history while illuminating its particular moments. From an ancient Zuni creation myth to the resurgence of "Red Power" in the 1970s, this book gathers together the views of Indian leaders past and present, including Pontiac, Red Jacket, Chief Seattle, Tecumseh, Black Hawk, Ely S. Parker, Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, Cochise, Geronimo, Luther Standing Bear, Ruth Muskrat Bronson, and Vine Deloria, Jr. Here is a Pawnee mother's advice to her son Lone Chief; Charles Eastman's memories of his tribal boyhood; Speckled Snake's biting response to President Jackson's Indian Removal policy; Big Eagle's account of the Great Sioux Uprising; Two Moons's eyewitness account of the Battle of Little Big Horn; Chief Joseph's history of the Nez Perces tribe; the Massacre at Wounded Knee in the words of Sioux survivors; and much, much more. The result is a masterful, kaleidoscopic survey of American Indian thought, culture, and history that is as fascinating to read as it is impossible to forget.

Wayne Moquin has edited The Makers of America and, with Charles Van Doren, A Documentary History of the Mexican Americans. Charles Van Doren is the author of A History of Knowledge and, with Mortimer J. Adler, The Great Treasury of Western Thought.