Once they were drunk, while in their state of drunkenness, they will be asked to sign the documents.

As a way to trick them in signing the land transfer documents, at times the white men offered illicit whisky to the chieftains.

The white settlers were cunning in cheating the chieftains of the Native people. The book also explains how the great chieftains and warriors of the Dakota, Ute, Sioux, Cheyenne, Navajos, Apache and other tribes of the Indians lost their lands. The book provides undisputed documented evidence of how the land was robbed and transferred from the hands of the Native Americans to the European settlers. In the 512 pages, Brown takes you on a journey to explain in vivid detail how the Native Americans were displaced from their lands. The author sparingly touches on other Indian tribes like Arapaho, Modoc, Kiowa, Comanche, Nez Perce, Ponca, Ute and Miniconjou Lakota. The story primarily focused on the plight of the Navajo Nation, Santee Dakota, Hunkpapa, Oglala Lakota, Cheyenne and Apache people. In reference to the compendium of documents that Brown got accessed to, he gives a vivid picture of what happened to the Native Americans, and how the Europeanisation marginalised the rightful owners of the land, which are now cherished by millions who have migrated from different parts of the world to settle there. The crux of Brown’s book was focused on the history of Native Americans in the American West. On the whole, he covers the historical events that happened to the Native Americans between the years 1860-1890. In the 19 chapters of the book, the author dealt with the massacre carried out by the whites on the different tribes of the Native-Americans. Based on the book, in 2007 a television movie was made by HBO Films.īrown starts his story by briefly stating the discovery and early settlement of the white people in America in 1492. The book sold one million copies on hardcover and four million copies in paperback. The Washington Post in its review of the book said it was “shattering”, while The New York Times reported the book to be “heartbreaking”.

The popularity of the book grew beyond the U.S when it was translated into seventeen different languages. The first edition was published in 1970 and became the New York Best Seller. This non-fiction book was introduced to me by an American friend named Muhammad Garyson. One of the interesting books that I have read during my undergraduate studies was one written by Dorris Alexander popularly known as Dee Brown, entitled “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West”. Publisher: New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston Title of the Book : Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

I lost my heart at wounded knee