The American West

I have read the other more well known book by Dee Brown, the incomparable 'Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee' and, it proved to be an excellent read, stacked with more information than you shake a stick at. However, the proof of Dee Brown's interest in Native Americans lies within the pages of this book as well. Although 'The American West' must feature the Indian people as a large part of history, it does tend to be overly included here. The rest of the book is both factual and well written. A number of pictures are included which happily dismisses the modern day trend of Hollywood-ised western scenarios. A very decent read for anyone interested in the story of how America became colonised by all manner of races, creeds and types for the umpteenth time and, how the 1800's indigenous peoples were defeated and usurped. A good take on settlers, hunters, townships, and entertainment in far flung places. Superbly documented and written, well recommended.....

Enjoyed the book but there are quite a few typos within it which I found irritating.

An enjoyable read and sparked me to seek out more on American history. At times it was a bit too much like Bury my Heart at Wooded Knee with over emphasis on native Americans but it soon balanced out. Easy to read but lacking detail in places. All on all a good book.

I am an avid fan of native American history

I have been fascinated by US history for a long time and this book is easy to read and gives an unbiased history of The American West. Covers the Indian Wars and relocation , Start of the meat /cattle industry and the in flux of new people to that part of the world. I was kind of sad when the book finished and left me wanting to read more about the era and the people.

A lot of the material about the Indian Wars overlaps with that in Brown's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" but there is in addition interesting information about the cattle drives, cowboys, the colourful characters who lived and died in Abilene, Dodge City etc. I skipped quickly through the chapters on entertainments. Well worth reading but not in the same league as "Bury My Heart".

Got this for my dad , he really enjoyed it

Very interesting. Nice to get a more balanced feel to include the Indian perspective.