Voices of Wounded Knee - Hardcover

Coleman, William S.E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0803215061 ISBN 13: 9780803215061

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 2000

Synopsis

On December 29, 1890, two weeks after the killing of Sitting Bull, the United States Seventh Cavalry opened fire on Miniconjou Ghost dancers near Wounded Knee Creek. Some army officials claimed that the dancers were armed and that the Ghost Dance was a call for the extermination of all whites. Many Lakota believed that the massacre stemmed from the Seventh Cavalry's enduring bitterness over Custer's loss at the Little Big Horn fourteen years earlier. In "Voices of Wounded Knee", William S. E. Coleman brings together for the first time all of the available sources - Lakota, military, and civilian. He recreates the Ghost Dance in detail and shows how it related to the events leading up to the massacre. Using accounts of participants and observers, Coleman reconstructs the massacre moment by moment. He places contradictory accounts in direct juxtaposition, allowing the reader to decide who was telling the truth. His balanced treatment suggests that the massacre grew out of decades of broken treaties, cultural misunderstandings, power struggles between the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Army, and erroneous and inflammatory reports by irresponsible members of the press. William S. E. Coleman is a professor of theatre at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. He and his wife spent nearly thirty years gathering documents from collections in the United States and abroad to create this book.

About this title

Review

"This book's high value is in its completeness. Coleman has assembled a multitude of sources, with explanatory comments. The book is a requisite for students of the tragedy and the Indian Wars period."--Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. "The material is exactly what is called for--a chance for the Indians to speak about their past and the events that surrounded Wounded Knee. This is an important book."--Troy Johnson, coeditor of Red Power: The American Indians' Fight for Freedom. "Devoted research results in a remarkable book."--Kevin Brownlow, film historian. "This is one of the most informative books written about the unfortunate circumstances leading to the 1890 debacle at wounded Knee. Twenty-five years in the making, it provides insights into the Ghost Dance phenomenon with its visions and beliefs in the Messiah's arrival ... Two riveting chapters contain actual observations of the massacre followed by transcripts of hearings and investigations."--Choice

About the Author

William S. E. Coleman is a professor emeritus of theatre at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. He and his wife spent nearly thirty years gathering documents from collections in the United States and abroad to create this book.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0803215061
• ISBN 13: 9780803215061
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 434